Red Bull urged to sign Mercedes star to stop F1 exodus

An edited image of Max Verstappen on a background of money — Photo: © IMAGO

Red Bull

Red Bull urged to sign Mercedes star to stop F1 exodus

The future of the Red Bull team is reliant on a huge signing

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Wednesday 22 April 2026 09:45

Numerous key F1 exits have plunged the Red Bull team into crisis and the team have been urged to start signing top talent from rival teams.

Red Bull barely resembles the team it was three years ago when they claimed 21 out of 22 race wins in the RB19, having lost key personnel such as Rob Marshall, Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley to rival teams.

Now Max Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase has become the most recent figure to leave and will head to McLaren in 2028, at a time where the Red Bull is more comfortable fighting in the midfield then at the top.

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Red Bull's main issue is with the chassis, also nicknamed the 'Fat Bull' due to the car being overweight, alongside balance issues that have prevented Verstappen and Isack Hadjar fighting for podiums in 2026.

It's clear Laurent Mekies' team needs to rebuild and to do so they have been advised to attract top talent from other teams, just as their rivals have poached their biggest names.

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Chandhok: Red Bull team members could follow Lambiase

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Show, pundit and former racing driver Karun Chandhok offered his best advice to the struggling Red Bull team, and stated they should be eyeing up talent from Mercedes.

Not only do they need top talent to improve their performance, but also boost morale with the pre-existing team, otherwise Red Bull are at risk of several personnel following Lambiase to McLaren claims the pundit.

"Right now, you want to attract people from Mercedes. They're the ones winning," Chandhok explained.

"You're going to try and rebuild, and I think one of the things that they've got to be worried about is that good people attract other good people.

"How long before GP starts calling the other 20 people who are sitting in their engineering office and saying, 'Hey, you know what guys, this place down at Woking, this is a really nice place to work. How do you fancy coming down here?'

"And all of a sudden, how long before that core group starts to break up? We've seen it. We've seen it so many times. Adrian Newey went from team to team to team and dragged their people. Ross Brawn did the same.

"That's something Red Bull really needs to be worried about. They need a big name signing, not just for the skill set that that person can bring, but the people that they will attract."

F1 Red Bull Mercedes Sky Sports Gianpiero Lambiase Karun Chandhok