According to the latest F1 Show podcast, Red Bull needs to “sign big players” from elsewhere on the F1 grid in order to reverse the trend of executive hiring by its rivals.
Last week’s unexpected announcement that Giampiero “GP” Lambiase, Max Verstappen’s engineer and the team’s race director, would join McLaren from 2028 marked the latest high-profile departure from the former world champion team since late 2023.
Lambius will follow the path to McLaren taken by former colleagues Rob Marshall (chief designer) and Will Courtenay (head of strategy), while Adrian Newey (chief technical officer) and Jonathan Wheatley (sporting director) have also defected to rivals.
Last year, Christian Horner stepped down as team principal after 20 years, and influential Helmut Marko left as long-time advisor.
Sky Sports’ F1 panel discussed the situation at Red Bull on the latest episode of the F1 Show as the former world champion sits sixth in the constructors’ championship with just 16 points behind after three races after a difficult start to a new era in the sport.
Commentator David Croft said: “There’s nothing more motivating than winning and given the car’s performance in the first three races, I don’t see Red Bull as a team that can win any time soon.”
“And I think Laurent Mequise has a very difficult job of continuing the transition from the Christian Horner era to a new era, whether it was the Laurent Mequise era or the Oliver Mintzlaff era. Are corporate and other decisions now being made in Austria rather than in Milton Keynes?”
“They’re losing a lot of staff right now, and not just the headline staff, but the staff below them as well. The No. 1 mechanic who’s been there since the early days left last week.”
“It’s not people who run away from sinking ships, it’s people who think their career success lies somewhere other than Milton Keynes.
“For years, that never happened. People were loyal to Red Bull, loyal to Christian Horner, loyal to the whole game of winning championships.”
“Red Bull are not always the most successful team on the grid. They have their peaks and their troughs. And at the moment they are heading into a bit of a trough and they need to replenish their personnel.”
“There’s a chance we could sign a big name, but we don’t know who that will be.”
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Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Show podcast, David Croft believes Giampiero Lambiase’s shock move to McLaren was “inevitable”.
Red Bull signed a significant number of engine staff from previously dominant Mercedes when it began building its engine division in 2021, only to find its rivals were hiring its own long-time talent.
On the recent trend of withdrawals and the issue of culture to maintain a winning team and atmosphere, Karun Chandhok replied: “At the end of the day, if you look at Red Bull last year, they won six of the last nine Grands Prix, so I think culture is very important.”
“The car has improved a lot. They probably had the fastest car, or at least as fast, for a lot of the time last year at the end of the season. Obviously, people need more than just success on the track.”
“And I think for some reason this brain drain is going on and there’s a cultural shift happening throughout the organization.
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“For Laurent Mequise and the owner of Austria’s Red Bull, there’s a big job to think about: ‘How do we stop this? How do we stop the brain drain? How do we make ourselves attractive?'”
“Right now we want to attract talent from Mercedes. They are the winners. We have to try to rebuild.
“And I think one of the things they have to worry about is good people attracting other good people.
“How long before a ‘GP’ starts calling up 20 other people sitting in engineering offices and saying: ‘Hey guys, this place in Woking is a great place to work, how do you want to get here?’ And then how long before all of a sudden that core group starts to disband?
“We have seen it many times.
“Adrian Newey went from team to team and dragged in great talent. Ross Brawn did the same thing. I think Red Bull need to really worry about that. They need to sign big names, not just for the skillset that player can bring, but also for the talent they will attract.”
F1 will resume with the second sprint weekend of the season, the Miami Grand Prix, from May 1-3, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract
