The Red Bull To McLaren Exodus Continues As Another Key Member Of Staff Makes The Move

The 2024 season has been revelatory for a number of reasons. But of them, the obvious decline of Red Bull – in the wake of a fast-improving McLaren – is the most headline-worthy.

Many of the advantages that Red Bull held over the rest of the grid, both in terms of driving excellence and technical mastery, appear to have been eroded, which is perhaps no surprise when you consider the number of support staff that have been poached away from the Austrian outfit by McLaren.

Will Courtenay is the latest Red Bull team member to announce their switch to McLaren, which allied to the movements of other members of technical staff, means that Christian Horner has now lost six key figures in his team’s rise to their rivals.

Making the Move

Before the start of the campaign, talk was of how many points Verstappen would win the Drivers’ Championship by.

Now, there’s even a feeling that the Dutchman faces a battle just to get his hands on the trophy – those interested in betting UK will have seen his odds trimmed to around -200, which is considerably longer than they were at the start of the season.

The online betting tips made Red Bull as dead certs to win the Constructors’ Championship too, but it’s all change on that front too with McLaren now odds-on to end the Austrian firm’s two-year grip on the title.

Many different factors have fed into the changing of the guard on the podium, and it’s pretty clear that a number of technical operatives within F1 are cashing their chips on McLaren, rather than Red Bull, as the team of the future.

Will Courtenay is the latest to tread the increasingly well-worn path. He has been the sporting director at Red Bull ever since the outfit’s inception into F1 back in 2005.

An experienced figure who has helped to oversee Red Bull’s rise to the top of the sport, Courtenay has helped to devise the team’s race strategy for nearly two decades. He will, of course, be sorely missed, although it has not been confirmed whether or not McLaren have bought out his contract, which runs until 2026.

Courtenay joins Rob Marshall and Peter Prodromou in leaving Red Bull’s backroom team to set up a home with McLaren, while Adrian Newey – considered one of the best designers in F1 – and Jonathan Wheatley will also leave Red Bull for Aston Martin and Sauber respectively.

Marginal Gains

Although backroom team members are arguably more dispensable than the drivers out on the track, F1 is a sport governed by fractions of seconds.

And those marginal gains can be made through the ingenuity of savvy technical staff, so Red Bull’s talent drain will be of major concern to them.

It would be fair to assume that relations behind the scenes in Austria are frosty – why else would all of these staff members be leaving in such a short space of time?

Horner has not always enjoyed the best of reputations as team principal, with some reports alleging that Newey decided to leave Red Bull due to the behaviour of his superior.

McLaren may well be considered a more progressive home then, both on the track and behind the scenes – with those two things very much working in close synergy.

Verstappen may well go on to win the Drivers’ Championship this term, but the probable loss of the constructors’ crown – as well as the loss of key personnel in the backroom – would hint at an off-season of recriminations and reputation restoration for the formerly unassailable Red Bull.