Following the announcement of Adrian Newey's departure from Red Bull in early 2025, concerns are brewing within the team, with reports of multiple staff members contemplating following the Chief Technical Officer's footsteps.
The exit of Adrian Newey may just be the beginning of a significant upheaval within the Milton-Keynes-based squad. After a successful tenure marked by groundbreaking car designs and numerous championships, Newey's decision to leave has not only resulted in questions about the team’s future direction but has also raised concerns about the satisfaction levels and future plans of some of the remaining team members.
Former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley has shed light on the internal atmosphere at Red Bull during a recent YouTube video on his own channel. He points out a growing unrest within the team, suggesting that Newey’s exit might have triggered more departures. He commented:
“There are a number of people at the team that I happen to know are talking and thinking about leaving, that are very unhappy. Adrian is the first of those really high-profile cards to topple, but there are now others who are very close to doing the same thing.
"Jonathan Wheatley, the sporting director, someone who has been there for a long, long time, also now [is] potentially looking for a way out and I happen to know that he is not the only one considering, seriously, an exit from the team."
He added:
“It’s not really about winning races and winning championships anymore. Yes, the championship is almost certainly going to go Red Bull’s way this year. They will win more races. And next year, they’ll be in a great position to do more of that.
"But for most of those people, they’ve now got so many of those accolades, so many ticks on the sheet of how many wins you get, how many points have you scored? How many pole positions? All of these things have been done.
"If you’re not happy in your work environment, and if that is genuinely the case at Red Bull, it will be no surprise to see more people, particularly at the higher end, start to think and consider other options that are on the grid.”
Despite these challenges, the team has managed to secure the recent renewal of contracts for other senior staff members such as Enrico Balbo, the aero chief, Ben Waterhouse, the head of performance engineering, and Pierre Waché, the technical director. These contract renewals are critical in ensuring some level of stability within the team's technical department.
