F1 News
Marko names 'most important' person to keep after latest Red Bull departure
- Ludo van Denderen
With Will Courtenay, another key figure is leaving Red Bull Racing in due course (possibly not until mid-'26). Last week, the Head of Race Strategy announced that he will leave the Austrian team to join McLaren, where he will become Sporting Director. Helmut Marko, Red Bull Racing's external adviser, is not too worried about another important figure exiting the door, and underlined which main figure he would like to keep above all.
Dan Fallows, Adrian Newey, Jonathan Wheatley, Rob Marshall and now Courtenay. It is now quite a list of experienced personnel leaving the Milton Keynes-based team. In a video with Motorsport-Total, Marko said they could not stop the Briton from leaving the team.
Red Bull outbid by rivals
"It is a natural development, when you are so successful, that people are poached," said the Austrian. According to him, another person in this field is ready to step up at the team. "There is someone with us who can take over this position and that is Hannah Schmitz. What we offered Will Courtenay did not interest him. And he had an offer for this position (sporting director at McLaren, ed), something that is also more financially attractive."
Marko believes that the aforementioned reason is why they are leaving the team. "But it is clear, together we have to make sure that the World Championship can be won this year and we also build a fast car for next year. But the most important thing is that we can keep Max Verstappen," Marko underlined.
This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sarkozi
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