"Goes for everyone in the team": Max Verstappen's warning to Red Bull over key personnel being targetted by rivals

Max Verstappen hopes that all Red Bull key personnel remain with the team in times to come. The Dutchman is delighted to hear about Adrian Newey's contract extension till 2026 but hopes the same for the rest of his team members.

Verstappen's comments come after reports that Ferrari was trying to poach Red Bull aerodynamicist, Enrico Balbo. However, the Scuderia's attempts to secure the engineer have fallen through as Balbo wants to stay with the Milton-Keynes-based outfit.

Red Bull is currently dominating the 2023 championship, having won all four races so far this year. However, this performance can be partially attributed to its personnel who work tirelessly behind the scenes to help Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez drive faster. If these people were to exit the team, there would be significant turmoil within the Austrian squad - a fact that Max Verstappen himself acknowledges.

Speaking at the press conference ahead of the 2023 Miami GP, the Dutchman said:

"Well, nothing will influence anything to ‘28 because I have a contract so but yeah, I'm very happy of course, that Adrian stays, but that goes for everyone in the team, right?

"I mean, when you're doing really well, you want to try and keep that whole group together. And that's of course also the target for the team for the future."

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Others to blame for Max Verstappen's dominance, claims former Bridgestone head

Former Bridgestone tire competition head Kees van de Grint recently made a comment about Max Verstappen's current dominance in F1. He suggested that it is not solely due to Verstappen's own skills but also the shortcomings of his competitors.

In the 2023 season, Verstappen took an early lead in the Drivers' Championship by winning two races and finishing second twice in the first four races. Red Bull is currently in a strong 1-2 position in the drivers' standings, with Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez in second place.

Perez won the 2023 Azerbaijan GP, narrowing the gap to Verstappen.

Van de Grint believes that Verstappen's success is primarily due to his competitors' inability to keep up with Red Bull's technological advancements in the modern ground-effect era. He claims that Verstappen has faced little opposition from other teams due to his car's superior performance.

“It is, of course, monotonous. I did not expect otherwise, but Max Verstappen is the big winner. His dominance is actually not good for the sport, but you can’t blame him. You have to blame the rest of it.”

However, with Sergio Perez now only six points behind the Dutchman in the standings, it will be interesting to see if Verstappen can secure his third title in the sport.