The crucial Red Bull exits which doomed Christian Horner

Christian Horner's exit from Red Bull is the biggest departure from a team in major transition since it crushed the F1 field in 2023. 

Since the year it won 21 of 22 races, Red Bull has now lost its team principal, chief technical officer, sporting director, design chief, head of strategy and chief mechanic, the latter working on Max Verstappen's side of the garage.

This would be like Mercedes losing Toto Wolff, James Allison, Ron Meadows, John Owen, Rosie Wait and Matt Deane in two years. 

Below, RacingNews365 takes a look at the five key departures which ultimately doomed Horner and set his departure in motion. 

Adrian Newey

Perhaps the biggest blow to Red Bull in the post-Dietrich Mateschitz world, losing Adrian Newey in early 2024, took away the one area papering over the cracks at Red Bull: performance.

Verstappen won seven of the first 10 races in 2024, including three of the five immediately following the announcement of Newey's exit ahead of the Miami GP. But the RB20 struggled thereafter.

New technical lead Pierre Waché has been unable to return the car to the dominant machine it was at the start of 2024, and despite all of Horner's claims that the post-Newey Red Bull era could continue to be as strong as before, that is putting numerous layers of gloss over a situation created by Newey's departure. 

You simply cannot lose someone of Newey's experience and expertise, especially with ground-effect cars, and not expect a massive drop-off.

Jonathan Wheatley

Jonathan Wheatley was Red Bull's rules man and fixer. The sporting director of the team it was his job to run the pit-crew, make calls over controversial incidents and liaise with the FIA. 

On two occasions this year, evidence of the Wheatley-less Red Bull was witnessed in Saudi Arabia and Spain. In Jeddah, the new Stake team principal indicated he would have told Max Verstappen to immediately give the lead up to Oscar Piastri, given their Turn 1 coming together. 

Red Bull did not, and the Dutchman was handed a race-costing five-second time penalty. In Spain, Red Bull wrongly told Verstappen to cede position to George Russell, leading to the Turn 5 collision. 

Wheatley was as important to the sporting side of Red Bull as Newey was to the technical team. A wily, battle-hardened racer who knew his rulebook better than the FIA. Not having that voice on the pit wall is going to blunt your attack. 

Will Courtenay

Will Courtenay is still employed by Red Bull and is being made to work out his contract after agreeing to join McLaren as sporting director in September 2024.

His contract runs until mid-2026, meaning he is on the pit wall calling strategy for Red Bull, against the team he has agreed to join. 

Horner was keen to play up the role of Hannah Schmitz as Courtenay's deputy, and whilst he might not be the biggest name, Courtenay's planned exit is further erosion of the tight-knit Red Bull senior team.

Rob Marshall

Another Newey lieutenant, Rob Marshall's departure in summer 2023, was the first domino to fall. 

The Red Bull veteran had been with the team for 17 years, but was enticed by a huge offer from McLaren to become engineering and design technical director, a chance to step up given that chief technical officer Newey was, at the time, going nowhere.

Marshall oversaw Red Bull's growth in the Sebastian Vettel era, then its demise in the turbo-hybrids before rising again to conquer Mercedes in 2021 and demolishing the field in the ground-effect era.

The Red Bull brain-drain started with Marshall.

Lee Stevenson

Lee Stevenson might not be a household name, but he played an integral role on Verstappen's car, as the chief mechanic. 

Prior to his departure in March 2024, Stevenson had been at Verstappen's side for all 56 of his grand prix wins and three titles to that point. 

A chief mechanic is basically the link between the engineering team and the mechanics, meaning a key cog in the Verstappen chain was broken with his departure to Stake. 

Stevenson might not be as important an exit as Newey, for example, but his exit completes the technical, sporting, engineering, and mechanical implosion at the team in the last two years.