Mercedes tried to hire key Max Verstappen ally from Red Bull but he ‘resisted’ the offer

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Plenty of changes are afoot on the Formula 1 grid ahead of the 2025 season but arguably even more is happening away from the track in the paddock.

The two blockbuster moves of 2024 after Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari and the imminent announcement of Adrian Newey leaving Red Bull for Aston Martin.

It leaves team principal Christian Horner without his most prominent designer as he follows Rob Marshall out of the door and Jonathan Wheatley will move on at the end of the year.

Red Bull’s rivals have sensed an opportunity and have been working hard to try and poach some more of their key staff.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

Lawrence Stroll offered two Red Bull ‘kingpins’ shares in Aston Martin to follow Newey to Silverstone.

They turned the move down and Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase has also put pen to paper on a new deal.

A report from Planet F1 suggests that another of Verstappen’s allies within the team was offered a move elsewhere in the paddock.

Mercedes have been trying to poach Verstappen for some time but a move won’t come to fruition this year with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli confirmed for 2025.

However, Toto Wolff will recognise how important building the right team around Verstappen is should he decide to pursue an opportunity with Mercedes going forward.

Max Verstappen’s performance engineer turned down move to Mercedes

Mercedes made an offer to Newey to try and convince him to join their team earlier in the season but they never seemed as close as Ferrari, or ultimately Aston Martin, to securing his services.

Helmut Marko was also on Mercedes’s radar when it looked like his future was directly connected to Verstappen’s.

It would have been a surprise to see the veteran Austrian join Wolff’s outfit given their previous tensions but compromises could be made when it comes to securing the triple world champion’s services.

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Wolff hasn’t given up on trying to poach some of Red Bull’s staff members and Verstappen’s performance engineer Tom Hart was also on his shortlist.

However, Hart was said to have ‘resisted’ the offer from Mercedes and will continue with Red Bull.

Horner has explained in the past that Red Bull plan to use the resources at their disposal to replace some of the high-profile people who have left or are planning to move on.

Lambiase could take on some of Wheatley’s responsibilities although this is unlikely to impact his work with Verstappen.

Christian Horner and Adrian Newey haven’t seen eye to eye at Red Bull

Understandably, Red Bull have acted to stop more top-level staff from moving on with their performance on the track faltering.

Pierre Wache and Enrico Balbo are both exceptionally talented and Horner will have complete faith that they can get to the bottom of their current issues.

However, Newey emailed Horner about claims that undermined his importance to their title-winning campaigns.

Newey has left rival designers gobsmacked with some of his previous work and Aston Martin will hope to benefit from the unique way he goes about creating a Formula 1 car.

Red Bull fans will hope they don’t live to regret losing the likes of Newey, Marshall and Wheatley.