– How many departures can Red Bull still afford? After already losing big names like Adrian Newey, Christian Horner, Jonathan Wheatley, or Helmut Marko, recently Gianpiero Lambiase also announced that he will leave the team for McLaren by the end of 2027 at the latest.
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Expert Karun Chandhok explains on Sky: “Laurent Mekies and the owners of Red Bull in Austria face a big challenge. They have to figure out: How can we stop this? How can we stop the ‘braindrain’? How do we make ourselves attractive?”
Because at the moment, from the outside, Red Bull does not seem like the team you want to switch to. “Right now, you want to recruit people from Mercedes,” Chandhok explains with regard to the good start to the season by the Silver Arrows.
“And I think one of the points they need to think about is that good people attract other good people,” Chandhok says about Red Bull and explains: “Adrian Newey moved from team to team and brought good people with him. Ross Brawn did the same.”
Photo series: The Red Bull departures of recent years
Meaning: To become attractive (again) for new employees, the team needs a flagship, in his opinion. “I think this is something Red Bull really needs to worry about,” says Chandhok. Because currently, the opposite might be true for the Bulls.
Why are so many people leaving Red Bull?
About the upcoming Lambiase departure, Chandhok says for example: “How long will it take until ‘GP’ calls the other 20 people in the engineering office and says: ‘Hey, you know what, guys? This location here in Woking is a really great workplace. How about you come here?'”
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“They need a well-known new addition – not just because of the skills this person brings, but also because of the people they will attract,” Chandhok emphasizes regarding the Bulls. Another expert, Ralf Schumacher, sees it similarly.
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In the podcast Backstage Boxengasse by Sky, he explains that Red Bull now has to try to “get new people very, very quickly.” He sees the budget cap as one of the reasons for the so-called “braindrain,” among others.
“At some point, the team is no longer able to keep the good engineers because they naturally get offers from all sides like crazy,” he explains. Lambiase is also said to have received a financially very lucrative contract from McLaren.
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“Everyone also wants to cash in again on last year’s success,” believes Schumacher, who emphasizes: “I understand that too.” Nevertheless, it is now up to Red Bull to fill these gaps as quickly as possible.
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