Every key staff member leaving Red Bull as Jonathan Wheatley jumps ship for Audi

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The news that Jonathan Wheatley is set to leave Red Bull after 18 years at the team comes amid a mass exodus of their inner success circle.

Wheatley has been a key cornerstone of Red Bull’s six F1 Constructors’ titles and seven Drivers’ Championships first in his role as Team Manager then latterly as Sporting Director.

His role is one of the most important in an F1 team, as they are tasked with knowing the ins and outs of the Technical and Sporting regulations. During the 2021 season, fans could often hear his voice querying rules with former F1 race director Michael Masi over team radio.

Wheatley’s biggest contribution was refining their pit stops and making them the benchmark for teams on the grid, while also going on to turn Red Bull into world record holders before it was beat by McLaren last year.

The 56-year-old’s departure follows the internal playground politics that have dogged the F1 team this year, to take up a new exciting role at the Audi F1 project from 2025.

READ MORE: All to know about Jonathan Wheatley as Audi/Sauber sign new team principal

Red Bull confirmed that he will stay on at the team in his current role for the rest of the season before taking up a period of gardening leave ahead of his duties at Audi.

Wheatley is the latest of the high-profile exits from Red Bull, leading to questions over whether Max Verstappen could jump ship as Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff openly courts him.

Adrian Newey the most high-profile exit from Red Bull

Without a doubt, the most high-profile of the latest exits is chief technical officer Adrian Newey, who will depart from the team in the first quarter of 2025.

Newey joined Red Bull in 2006 following highly successful tenures at Williams and McLaren, helping drive the team to title success between the 2010 and 2013 seasons with Sebastian Vettel and latterly in 2021, 2022, and 2023 with Verstappen.

The question of where Newey will end up is on the mind of everyone in F1, as he assesses options ahead of the big ruleset change in 2026.

Intially, there were rumours that he could make the switch to his lifelong dream team Ferrari just in time for Lewis Hamilton’s arrival, but a move to Marinello now looks increasingly unlikely for Newey.

Now it appears that Aston Martin are front runners to sign his signature after billionaire team owner Lawrence Stroll has reportedly offered Newey £400k-a-week.

Rob Marshall makes an impact at McLaren

If you can’t tempt Newey away from Red Bull, then you are better off poaching one of his disciples. That is exactly what McLaren did last year with Rob Marshall, another key member of the ‘inner circle’ that led to Red Bull becoming one of the big three teams.

Having been at Benetton through their successful years with Michael Schumacher in 1994 and 1995 and later Renault when they won the championship with Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006, Marshall joined Red Bull at the end of 2006.

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He was an important member of the technical team for the big regulation switch in 2009, which set them off on their title success through the early 2010s.

Given that McLaren has managed to turn around its fortunes since his arrival and challenge for wins, his impact behind the scenes cannot be underestimated and is a genuine loss for the Red Bull juggernaut.