Red Bull executive could be next senior figure to leave Christian Horner’s team
The world champions will lose Adrian Newey next year and the future of their sporting director is unclear
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Your support makes all the difference.Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley is reportedly considering his future at the team.
The F1 world champions confirmed last week that design guru Adrian Newey will leave the team at the start of 2025 following 19 years with the team.
Wheatley has been an integral part of Christian Horner’s outfit since joining in 2006 and is the man chiefly responsible for overseeing Red Bull’s impressive pit stop crew.
However, the 57-year-old’s contract is up for renewal and while discussions over an extension are ongoing, Wheatley holds ambitions to become a team principal.
A report in The Times stated over the weekend that Wheatley has been sounding out other outfits on the grid. Alpine and Sauber have been linked with a move for the Red Bull sporting director.
Horner said after Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix: “There’s rumours about everybody. So contracts between individuals and their terms and conditions are not something we really talk to the public on.”
Other key figures behind the scenes at Red Bull, such as technical chiefs Pierre Wache and Enrico Balbo, have recently signed long-term contracts.
Despite winning four of the first six races this year, it has been a turbulent few months for Red Bull given the investigation into Horner’s conduct towards a female employee.
Horner was cleared of “inappropriate behaviour” but the complainant is currently appealing the verdict.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown predicted that Newey’s departure could trigger a number of key Red Bull personnel to leave the team.
“I think the stuff that’s going on there, it’s a bit destabilising; probably [Newey is] the first domino to fall,” Brown said.
“My guess is it’s not the last based on the resumes that are flying around. We’ve seen an increase in CVs coming our way from the team.”
A Red Bull spokesperson responded to Brown’s comments with the following statement: “In the past few months all our technical leadership team have signed long-term contracts committing to Oracle Red Bull Racing, so we’re not sure what CVs Zak is referring to, but we don’t foresee any significant loss and certainly not the domino effect Zak is hoping for.”
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