'Red Bull goes aggressive with big F1 signing spree' - report

Red Bull has managed to lure as many as 60 staff away from rival F1 teams after its high-profile departures, according to a report.

Across 2024, the team lost its chief technical officer, sporting director, and head of strategy with Adrian Newey, Jonathan Wheatley, and Will Courtenay all opting to depart, although Wheatley remained in post until the end of the season and Courtenay's departure to McLaren will not happen until 2026. 

After the losses of Newey to Aston Martin and Wheatley to Stake/Audi, the team opted to promote from within, with Max Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase the big winner, receiving a promotion to head of racing, dovetailing that role with his normal duties.

Dutch publication de Telegraaf has now reported that Red Bull has captured as many as 60 employees away from rival teams to bolster its own ranks. 

Boss Christian Horner had previously claimed that Red Bull had taken as many as over 200 staff from Mercedes High-Performance Powertrains for its own in-house Red Bull Powertrains division, but this was quashed by Mercedes, who explained a vast majority of this number were only short-term contractors.

Red Bull enters the 2025 season with a new driver line-up with Liam Lawson promoted from Racing Bulls to partner Max Verstappen after Sergio Perez was axed following a poor '24 season.

The new RB21 will hit the track for the first time on February 25th in Bahrain for a shakedown the day before pre-season testing, which is scheduled to run between February 26th-28th ahead of the first race in Australia on March 16th.