Christian Horner believes that Toto Wolff should be more concerned about the hundreds of employees Red Bull have pinched from his Mercedes team than ‘one or two’ leaving the reigning constructors’ champions, who are still reeling from the resignation of chief technical officer Adrian Newey.
Early-season drama at Red Bull has sparked tension between senior figures, with Newey believed to be unsettled by the working environment after allegations of inappropriate behaviour were made against Horner by a female employee.
The team principal was cleared by an inquiry and has always denied wrongdoing, but the complainant is in the process of appealing the decision. Following Newey’s resignation, Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley is also believed to be considering his future.
And there remain questions over three-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen, who is being courted by Mercedes in their quest to replace Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton.
Wolff and McLaren CEO Zak Brown both took their chance to put Horner under more pressure during the Miami Grand Prix weekend by insisting they had seen an increase in CVs sent their way by disgruntled Red Bull staff.
When asked for his take on the comments, Horner issued a stinging reply: “It’s inevitable. You know the two candidates involved. They talk a lot. I’m not going to get sucked into a tit for tat but I’d be more focused on Toto’s own issues that he has.
“I don’t have any concern about [our] strength in depth. Of course there is always going to be movement between teams. Mercedes, we’ve taken 220 people out of [Mercedes High Performance Powertrains] into Red Bull Powertrains so when we talk about losing people I would be more worried about the 200, not one or two.”
On reports of Wheatley ‘sounding out’ rivals for a team principal position, Horner added: “There are rumours about everybody. Contracts between individuals and their terms and conditions is not something that we really talk through [with] the public.”
Red Bull were not at their dominant best during Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix, despite Verstappen wiping the floor with his opponents in qualifying and during Saturday’s sprint.
McLaren’s Lando Norris found himself in the lead after capitalising on a mid-race safety car, and opened up a seven-second gap on Verstappen by the time he took the chequered flag for his first-ever Grand Prix victory.
