Jos Verstappen on key Red Bull members leaving: "This is what I warned about"

The decision of several key figures at Red Bull Racing to leave the Formula 1 team is exactly what Jos Verstappen feared at the beginning of the year, he has told Autosport.

In March during the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, the father of three-time world champion Max Verstappen claimed that “the team is in danger of being torn apart”, so long as Christian Horner continued to act as team principal of the Milton Keynes based outfit.

Horner was accused by a female employee of inappropriate and controlling behaviour, but subsequently cleared of wrongdoing after an internal investigation by an independent lawyer, while a misconduct appeal was also dismissed.

"It can’t go on the way it is, it will explode," Verstappen told the Daily Mail.

Last week, it was announced that Red Bull's head of race strategy Will Courtenay is leaving to join rivals McLaren as the team's new sporting director.

The Briton had been with Red Bull for more than 20 years, having joined when the team was still competing under its Jaguar guise.

Courtenay's planned departure follows those of chief technical officer Adrian Newey, who will become managing technical partner at Aston Martin, and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley to join Audi’s Formula 1 project as team principal.

"This is what I warned about," Verstappen Sr responded to Autosport at the East Belgian Rally last weekend, when confronted with the news of another veteran team member leaving Red Bull.

Jonathan Wheatley, Team Manager, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

"The team then says: 'Oh, it doesn't matter, we have someone else [who we can put on that position].' But it's too many people now [who decide to leave].

"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."

Horner has said on multiple occasions that Red Bull has enough strength in depth to cope with the departure of an individual.

But ex-F1 driver Verstappen Sr believes "he [Horner] always glosses over it".

On track, things have not been going smoothly for Red Bull for a while now.

While Verstappen won seven of the first ten races of the 2024 F1 season, he is without a win in eight races and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix saw McLaren overtake Red Bull at the top of the constructors' standings. 

Furthermore, Verstappen's lead in the drivers’ championship shrunk to 52 points at the last race in Singapore after Lando Norris dominated the event.

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