Jos Verstappen sends Red Bull and Christian Horner brutal reminder after mass exodus
Christian Horner has been criticised once again as Red Bull continue to struggle.
Jos Verstappen has issued a clear message to Christian Horner, stressing that Red Bull’s flow of key departures was ‘what he warned about’ in an interview earlier this season.
The father of the reigning world champion, Max Verstappen, has been extremely outspoken in his public criticisms of the Red Bull management structure. He has taken digs at Horner in particular on a number of occasions after the team principal was investigated, and later cleared, over allegations of inappropriate behaviour back in February.
During that period, Verstappen Snr gave an interview with the Daily Mail, in which he stated: “It can't go on the way it is. It will explode. There is tension here while he remains in position.”
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These comments have been followed by a string of notable departures. The headliner was Adrian Newey’s move, with the legendary engineer’s exit announced in Miami before his switch to Aston Martin for the 2025 campaign was confirmed ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Elsewhere, sporting director Jonathan Wheatley was also poached with the 57-year-old headhunted to take up the team principal role at Audi when they join the grid in 2026. More recently, head of race strategy Will Courtenay was lured away by rivals McLaren, who have offered the Brit the role of sporting director moving forward.
Speaking to Motorsport.com about the team personnel changes at the East Belgian Rally, Verstappen Snr said: "Yes, this is what I warned about. The team then says: 'Oh, it doesn't matter, we have someone else [to replace them].'
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“But it's too many people now [leaving]. And Max gets questions about it every time and so on. So yeah, I think it's just not good, what's happening at the moment." When asked about Horner’s approach, the Dutchman replied: “He always glosses over it.”
Two of the key figures in leading the team forward will be Gianpiero Lambiase and Hannah Schmitz. Already influential members of the squad, they are being promoted to head of race engineering and head of strategy roles respectively.
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Despite the public criticism, Horner is optimistic about the restructure. “The appointments will serve to give us greater capacity across a number of crucial areas and ultimately will, I believe, make the team more competitive,” he said. “For me, it is especially rewarding to have promoted people from within.
"We have a huge resource of exceptionally talented people at Oracle Red Bull Racing and I am delighted that we can give them the opportunity to shine in roles that were not previously open. It’s a step forward for the team as a whole.”
