Red Bull are in F1 crisis, everybody is leaving: Lambiase, Horner, Newey, Marko and more

sergio perez, adrian newey, helmut marko, max verstappen, christian horner — Photo: © IMAGO

Red Bull F1

Red Bull are in F1 crisis, everybody is leaving: Lambiase, Horner, Newey, Marko and more

The past 12-18 months have seen numerous departures at Red Bull

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Thursday 9 April 2026 11:57 Updated: 12:10

Red Bull's management has undergone an almighty upheaval in the past two seasons with senior F1 figures departing the once imperious team one after another. Gianpiero Lambiase is just the latest in a long line.

First it was Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley, seeking seniority and a fresh challenge at rival teams. Their exits were soon pursued by the sacking of Christian Horner and the retirement of Helmut Marko. Red Bull now barely resembled the team Max Verstappen first joined a decade ago.

Now Verstappen's right-hand man and race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase is expected to join McLaren and leave Red Bull altogether.

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It's not just these departures that are causing concern. With the RB22's current struggles, rumours of Verstappen's retirement and the exit of Ole Schack (with a change in 'atmosphere' at the team cited as the reason for his departure), a more complex picture is beginning to form around the team.

Whether a team in crisis or in transition, it's clear a new Red Bull is emerging devoid of the figures who called the team their home for nearly two decades.

Red Bull's major departures

Red Bull's first major exit took place in 2023 with Rob Marshall heading to McLaren. Newey, Wheatley and Will Courtenay all followed suit in 2024, before team principal Horner was sacked in 2025. Here is the full list, and how those exits happened:

Rob Marshall

In May 2023, it was announced that chief engineering officer Rob Marshall would be leaving Red Bull for McLaren after 17 years with the team.

Marshall first joined Red Bull in 2006 as the team's chief designer and worked alongside Newey to design their championship winning cars.

He now serves McLaren as their chief designer following his official move.

Adrian Newey

Following a tumultuous start to the 2024 season for Red Bull team principal Horner, it was then announced that Adrian Newey would be leaving the team.

Newey oversaw the design of Red Bull's cars from when he joined in 2006, but left the team to seek 'new challenges'.

These new challenges came in the form of Aston Martin, where he is now not only their lead designer but also a shareholder and team principal.

Adrian Newey left Red Bull for Aston Martin

Jonathan Wheatley

Not even three months on from Newey's exit, sporting director Jonathan Wheatley announced he too would be leaving Red Bull to head up the new Audi F1 project.

After 18 years at Red Bull, Wheatley stepped up to the team principal role at Sauber/Audi - only for the team to announce his exit from Audi just two rounds into the 2026 season.

Will Courtenay

Former head of strategy at Red Bull Will Courtenay announced that he would be joining McLaren in September 2024.

Courtenay finally arrived at Woking in January 2026 as their sporting director.

Several senior figures have left Red Bull

Christian Horner

Despite spending the past 20 years in the role of team principal at Red Bull, Horner was sacked in July last year.

It had been a rocky period leading up to his exit, with the team boss accused (and subsequently cleared) of inappropriate behaviour by a female colleague in 2024.

Red Bull's downturn in performance during the 2025 season also put pressure on Horner, who was replaced by former Racing Bulls chief Laurent Mekies.

Horner as of yet, has no avenue back into the F1 paddock, although Alpine is widely tipped to sign the former Red Bull team principal.

Christian Horner was sacked by Red Bull in July 2025

Helmut Marko

Another shock departure came at the end of 2025, when it was announced advisor Helmut Marko would be leaving the team.

Marko spent over 20 years at Red Bull as an advisor, and was responsible for their young driver programme. The Austrian helped usher in young talent such as Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen, with the latter referring to Marko as a 'second father'.

According to Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff, Marko approached him and expressed his wish to end his role as motorsport advisor at the end of the year.

Ole Schack

Another Red Bull team member who has been with them since day dot, was Danish mechanic Ole Schack.

It was reported earlier this month that Verstappen's front end mechanic would be leaving the team, despite having attended every single grand prix with Red Bull since 2005.

The 'atmosphere' at Red Bull has been cited as the reason for his departure.

Gianpiero Lambiase

Verstappen's race engineer since he joined the team in 2016, GP was recently appointed head of racing alongside his race engineer duties.

It is now understood he will join McLaren to assist team principal Andrea Stella in his role at the Woking-based outfit.

Will Max Verstappen be next to leave Red Bull?

With such a number of high-profile exits, gradually weakening a support structure that enabled Verstappen to win four consecutive world titles, it begs the question: Is Max next?

Any potential exit from Verstappen may have less to do with the changing tides at Red Bull, and more to do with the 2026 cars. Described by the Dutchman as 'anti-racing' it has been reported Verstappen is 'seriously considering' F1 retirement.

The sudden exit of Lambiase has also led some to assume that this is because Verstappen's own departure from Red Bull and F1 is imminent.

Red Bull have not commented on the reports that Lambiase is leaving the team, nor has Verstappen announced an official exit from F1.

There is also the possibility that Verstappen could just leave Red Bull but stay in F1 with a different team. He reportedly has an exit clause in his current contract which would become active if he is outside the top two in the championship standings by the time of the summer break. Currently the Dutchman is ninth.

Written by

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Sheona Mountford is a motorsport journalist specialising in F1. As a writer and contributor, she covers a wide range of motorsport series from F1 to F1 Academy, responsible for breaking news, live race coverage and in depth analysis of the sport and the culture around it.

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F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen Christian Horner Adrian Newey Helmut Marko