Red Bull ‘sources’ believe Christian Horner made an even bigger personnel error than losing Adrian Newey

Follow us on Google Discover

Red Bull Racing have seen an almost complete overhaul of their senior staff in the past two seasons.

Christian Horner may not have left of his own volition, but his departure represents another huge change behind the scenes at Red Bull.

Laurent Mekies has been promoted into Horner’s role at Red Bull, and he has a very different set of personnel to call upon than his predecessor during the team’s most recent dominant period.

Adrian Newey was vital to Red Bull’s success during his spell with the team as chief designer.

However, Newey believed Horner tried to underplay his contribution to Red Bull’s achievements, and now he’s a key cog in Aston Martin’s Formula 1 project.

Jonathan Wheatley is now the team principal at Sauber after years of working alongside Horner as his pit stop expert and rules and regulations guru.

Red Bull will lose head strategist Will Courtenay to rivals McLaren next season, but there’s another exit that sources within the team think was even more important than that trio all moving on.

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

Red Bull ‘sources’ think losing Rob Marshall was a bigger Christian Horner error than Adrian Newey’s exit

Journalist Daniel Moxon was reviewing all the details from Horner’s sacking on his Substack.

He mentions that Courtenay still hasn’t arranged his exit from Red Bull yet, despite already being confirmed by McLaren, with a move likely to be completed next season.

However, ‘multiple sources inside Red Bull’ believe that the biggest loss felt within the team under Horner was Rob Marshall joining McLaren.

Marshall arrived at Red Bull at the same time as Newey in 2006, but was a much lower-profile figure among fans.

However, in his role as chief designer at McLaren, he’s helped take the team from the back of the grid to constructors’ championship winners in the space of two years.

The rise of McLaren has almost perfectly mirrored the difficulties that Red Bull have experienced in that time.

Both Horner and Red Bull chiefs above him believed that Marshall’s exit was a ‘key factor’ in the team losing ground to their closest rivals.

READ MORE: McLaren chief ‘clearly’ targeted Red Bull’s Christian Horner at the Spanish Grand Prix to ‘gloat’ about one achievement

Rob Marshall has overseen one ‘true innovation’ at McLaren that rivals can’t be copied this season

Horner didn’t hide his amazement at McLaren’s car during his press conference at the British Grand Prix.

He couldn’t believe that Oscar Piastri was able to follow Lando Norris so closely at the Austrian Grand Prix.

It highlights the level of innovation that Marshall has been responsible for overseeing during his time at McLaren.

Marshall is responsible for several McLaren innovations over the past two seasons that have made them the biggest target in the paddock.

The FIA have investigated McLaren’s car incessantly this season, but haven’t found anything wrong at this stage.

The challenge for Marshall at McLaren now is to help them continue their domination during the next era of the sport that starts next season.

Meanwhile, Red Bull need to dig themselves out of the spiral they now find themselves in.