Horner hits back at Wolff after claims of receiving an increase in ‘Red Bull CVs’ stating Wolff should ‘focus on his own issues.’
In the lead-up to the Miami Grand Prix, a bombshell piece of news broke with the announcement that Adrian Newey would be leaving Red Bull in the first quarter of 2025. With nearly two decades of tenure at the team, during which he secured seven driver championships and six constructors titles, the Briton decided it was time to step back.
While Newey’s future remains unknown, rumors have been swirling around the paddock linking him to teams such as Williams, Mercedes, and, most notably, Ferrari.
His move is just one of the domino pieces to fall for Red Bull. One of the speculated reasons behind Newey’s decision to leave Red Bull has been the pressure Christian Horner has been under this season.
Earlier this year, Horner was in the spotlight after he was accused of inappropriate behavior towards a female employee. After an investigation the allegations were dismissed but the discourse caused a public disagreement, notably, with Max Verstappen’s Father, Jos who voiced concerns about Horner’s leadership stating if the Briton stayed it would be ‘bad for the team.’ Furthermore, Helmut Marko was also accused of leaking information, a claim which has since been dismissed. These events further strained relationships within the team.
Toto Wolff fires out
Despite the significant departure of Newey, Horner reaffirmed in his belief that there won’t be a mass exodus within Red Bull. However, team principals Zak Brown and Toto Wolff disagree with this statement with the pair admitting they have received an increase in CV’s from Red Bull staff:
“Zak is absolutely correct. We are seeing Red Bull CVs through all of the levels. But I would say this isn’t anything out of the extraordinary. People change teams and want to change environment,” Wolff told Sky Sports.
“I’ve come to the point that I’m not really interested in what’s going on there with the leadership, not listening to anything anymore. I think it’s important for us to look at our team, develop the strong people and hopefully get some interesting, competent people from other teams into Mercedes and provide an exciting journey to recovery.
Horner hits back
In response Horner fired back revealing that Red Bull have poached 220 staff members from Mercedes and have employed them to work on Red Bull’s new 2026 power-unit which is in collaboration with Ford:
“The two candidates involved talk a lot. I’m not going to get sucked in for a tit for tat. I would be more focused on Toto’s own issues that he has. I don’t have any concern with the strength and depth [of Red Bull]“Horner stated to Sky Sports.
“Of course there is always going to be movement between teams. I don’t know how many people we have employed by McLaren this year? Mercedes, we have taken 220 people. 220 out of HPP into Red Bull powertrains.
“So when we are talking about losing people, I would be more worried than about the 220 people, than one or two CVs.” Horner added.
Another big shift could be happening at Red Bull with reports of sporting director, Jonathan Wheatley being rumored to be the next significant departure from the Milton-Keynes based outfit.
Wheatley has been a key member of the squad since 2006. His contract runs up at the end of the season, and while there are talks underway about a renewal, there are suggestions the Briton could move on with his ambitions of becoming a main team.
Featured image credits: Mark Thompson via Getty Images
