Schumacher offers alternate theory behind Red Bull brain drain

Ralf Schumacher believes the exodus of senior staff from the Red Bull F1 team is not linked to team boss Christian Horner.

Tensions igntred at Red Bull at the start of the season after Horner was accused by a female employee of inappropriate behaviour, something he has always strongly denied.

In the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekends, a power struggle erupted at the team with Horner in one corner, backed by the Thai majority owners and the Austrian side of Helmut Marko and Oliver Mintzlaff, backed by Jos Verstappen. 

A truce was called, but across the year, Red Bull has lost its chief technical officer, sporting director and head of strategy in Adrian Newey, Jonathan Wheatley and Will Courtenay to Aston Martin, Stake/Audi and McLaren, respectively.

But six-time grand prix winner Schumacher does not believe the exits are linked to Horner.

 "I think when people have worked together successfully for so long, they want to improve their own position," he told Sky Germany. 

"But then there is no room for that in the existing environment. If they get financially interesting offers from outside, they start looking for something new.

"So I wouldn't associate this purely with Horner.

There was a feeling that there was a division between Austria and Thailand.

"[Late Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz] held those strings from the top down and always made it clear from the top down how things would go.

"That factor is definitely missing now. I think the team misses that and Horner misses that. 

"Horner is someone with incredible experience and someone who does a great job, but he's also someone who, looking at last year, maybe was also a little bit overrated when he was left on his own."