Since Adrian Newey announced his departure from Red Bull, there have been rumors that the team is gradually falling apart. Some sources even said that several engineers wanted to leave the Austrian outfit, following the footsteps of the 65-year-old car designer. The chief technological officer of the Milton Keynes team has been part of the team since 2006. Hence, a lot of questions came up regarding the sudden departure of Newey from the team after 18 long years. The 65-year-old design chief would leave the team in the early quarter of the 2025 season. However, people like Helmut Marko believe the team should keep up the momentum in terms of their performance, even in the absence of Adrian Newey.
Moreover, Red Bull has faith in its engineers and designers, such as Pierre Wache. However, as per rumors, several engineers at Red Bull have sent their resumes to Mercedes and McLaren team principal to pursue their careers elsewhere. Moreover, it looked like Newey decided to leave the team after a female employee accused Christian Horner of “Inappropriate behavior.” Since then, the Austrian outfit has gone through a lot of turmoil at their camp. Nevertheless, three key members have recently signed their contract extensions.
Things Seem To Get Better At The Austrian Outfit As Three Members Extended Their Contracts
Recently, Red Bull Racing confirmed the news to GPblog.com of three members signing contract extensions early this year. Pierre Wache, the technical director, Enrico Balbo, the head of aerodynamics, and Ben Waterhouse, the head of performance engineering, have all signed multi-year contracts. Moreover, these key staff members will be in charge of the development of the 2026 RBR car. According to GPblog.com, Wache’s contract will last till 2028. Hence, whatever happens to the Red Bull car for the next four years will depend on Pierre Wache mostly. He is a 49-year-old Frenchman. Moreover, the team principal Christian Horner even credited Wache for the team’s latest success and not Adrian Newey. Perhaps that didn’t sit well with the 65-year-old car designer either.
Lately, Wache and Enrico Balbo have been in day-to-day charge of the RB20’s development. At Red Bull, Pierre Wache has a pretty good track record so far. Clearly, with Wache, Balbo, and Waterhouse signing multi-year contracts, lasting till 2028, the technical department of Red Bull will remain intact for the coming years. But the racing stable of RBR will miss the insights of the hugely successful Adrian Newey in the following years. However, the bright side of extending the contracts of the three key members is that Red Bull will keep a lot of essential knowledge in their house ahead of 2026.
But What About The Rumors Around Staffs Looking For A Way Out?
In 2023, there were several rumors that said Ferrari was trying to land Pierre Wache and Enrico Balbo. However, there was no confirmation of that rumor as the parties did not sign any deal. Without materializing a deal and the latest contract extensions, the Prancing Horse might not knock the Red Bull doors again. On Friday, Christian Horner said that all key technicians of the team have current contracts.
According to Brown and Wolff people walk away from Red Bull, but that’s not true for the leading people of the technical team. Waché, Balbo and Waterhouse signed a new longterm deal which take them to 2028. Deals were signed in the last few months.#F1 #RedBull
— Tim Kraaij (@TimKraaij) May 6, 2024
The Red Bull boss had to confirm that in Miami because McLaren CEO Zak Brown had revealed that several RBR engineers send their “CVs to competitors looking for pursuing their future elsewhere.” Later, Toto Wolff confirmed Brown’s words. Nevertheless, one thing the RBR fans can be sure of is that Wache, Balbo, and Waterhouse aren’t going anywhere at the moment.
Stay tuned to Sports News International for more such updates about your favorite F1 team.