The purpose behind Red Bull reinforcements for Verstappen

Ahead of the new Formula 1 season, there have been several changes at Red Bull. Sergio Perez and the Milton Keynes-based team parted ways, with Liam Lawson having been promoted to partner Max Verstappen. 

In the background, changes have also taken place with a very important restructuring, following multiple major departures. 

This all started with the news last May that Adrian Newey would be closing the door behind him at the team after 20 years. 

The top designer was ready for a new challenge and eventually switched to Aston Martin, who he will officially join on March 3. 

Not much later, sporting director Jonathan Wheatley followed suit. Wheatley had long been key to Red Bull, but he received an offer to become team principal of Stake F1/Audi.

It led to Red Bull's leadership having to be shaken up. The team did so by promoting several names internally. 

For example, Gianpiero Lambiase, Verstappen's race engineer, is Red Bull's new head of racing and Steve Knowles fills the role of head of sporting. 

Therefore, Knowles will assist Verstappen and Lawson from 2025 should he have to go to the stewards for a potential penalty.

Reinforcements

The changes did not stop there. De Telegraaf reported that Red Bull has taken roughly 60 employees from its competition last year. 

These are not directly individuals to strengthen the management team, but each with an important purpose behind them. 

For years, Red Bull has been known for being very strong across the board. Newey, for example, was the brains behind successful Red Bull concepts for many years, but was intensively supported by technical director Pierre Waché and his team. 

To continue to shine, the departed figures need to be replaced with new bright minds, also for the future.

Speaking of the future, Red Bull is undoubtedly still recruiting for the new era. In 2026, F1 will be shaken up with the introduction of the new power unit regulations. 

Red Bull has decided to build its own engine in collaboration with Ford, which of course is a project of note. 

The development is so far along that the basis of the team and the engine department does stand, but any reinforcement is welcome. Red Bull is also known to have attracted many engineers from Mercedes when setting up the engine department.

In F1, it is also quite normal for many people to switch every year. When a particular team performs well, it also attracts interest from competitors. 

Red Bull dominated until mid-2024, causing other teams to try to poach important people. A flow of people, to and from Red Bull, is then the result.

Behind the scenes

Clearly, then, Red Bull may have been weakened on the face of it by the departures of Newey and Wheatley, but behind the scenes recruitment continues to take place. 

If you attract the right people, there may be leaders of the future among them. From the outside anyway, it is to be commended that Red Bull never panicked. A clear vision was in place, partly by expressing confidence in engineers like Lambiase. 

The upcoming season will show whether Red Bull will be much affected by the departure of several leaders. 

In the opening rounds it will surely take some getting used to working without Newey and Wheatley, but today's leadership has also been able to learn under their wings. 

If they can bring that to fruition, it won't necessarily mean that Red Bull will be in trouble in the long run. 

And that, of course, is also good news for Verstappen, who will watch with interest as the situation unfolds. After all, his future remains a thorny issue...