Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko has hinted at upcoming changes within the team’s revamped hierarchy. Amid McLaren’s recent poaching of its head of race strategy, Will Courtenay, Marko revealed an important name who could take his place.
McLaren recently confirmed the appointment of Courtenay as its new sporting director, who will take over the role after the conclusion of his Red Bull contract in mid-2026. The signing has left another dent in the Milton Keynes outfit that saw several important staff exits in the last few months.
Since the beginning of the 2024 season, Red Bull has faced a major setback with the departure of its chief technical officer, Adrian Newey, to Aston Martin. Widely regarded as one of the most successful designers in Formula 1 history, Newey played a pivotal role in the development of Red Bull’s dominant ground effect cars, particularly the 2023 RB19, which secured 21 victories out of 22 Grands Prix. He is set to join Aston Martin in March 2025 as the team’s managing technical partner and shareholder.
Another key employee that Red Bull lost to a rival team was sporting director Jonathan Wheatley. He will join the Sauber F1 team as the team principal mid-next year, under the leadership of Mattia Binotto, the team’s new CEO and CTO. Wheatley’s prospects at Sauber could elevate further after Audi concludes its takeover of the team in 2026 when Formula 1 enters a new era of regulations.
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In the wake of several other departures in recent times, Red Bull announced structural changes within the team to elevate existing talent to senior roles, resulting in the promotion of Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, to the position of head of racing. However, Marko revealed in a video with Motorsport-Total.com, as reported by GPblog.com, that there is one important person who the team cannot afford to let go. He said:
“It is a natural development, when you are so successful, that people are poached.
“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), something that is also more financially attractive.”
Marko stated the team’s priority was to secure a world championship this year and make all efforts to retain Verstappen. He added:
“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.”
