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Red Bull need to prepare for life after Max Verstappen and Adrian Newey. Well, let's say the silent part out loud. The star designer has left the team, and with him, there are going to be quite a few key personnel who might run for the exit door.
At the same time, if Jos Verstappen's overly eager messaging is anything to go by, it won't be long before Max Verstappen's departure is announced as well. Until now, it appears that Red Bull boss Christian Horner has been blindsided by a lot of things that have happened.
All the actions until now have been about containment and keeping the damage to a minimum. It's about time Red Bull acted proactively and built a proper succession plan for life after Max Verstappen.
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Why Adrian Newey left Red Bull
If reports are to be believed, Adrian Newey left Red Bull because he felt that his efforts and contributions were being slighted. The reason behind it?
In the interview that Christian Horner did last year, he said that the team wasn't dependent on Adrian Newey anymore. The future destination of Newey appears to be Ferrari at this stage.
The ace designer is on his way out of the team as his relationship with Christian Horner breaks down completely.
Max Verstappen is leaving soon?
Since the start of the season, Max Verstappen and Christian Horner have not shared loyalties. Verstappen is more inclined towards Helmut Marko, and he has been quite public about it.
At the same time, as soon as Adrian Newey's departure became public, Jos Verstappen was quick to give his soundbite, where he expressed concern about the state of the team.
There's a clear pattern here, and it appears that Max Verstappen is itching to head towards the exit door and join Adrian Newey on his way out.
Time for a succession plan
With the star designer gone and the star driver seemingly itching to leave, Christian Horner has to be pragmatic and not find himself in a situation where he's caught off-guard. He doesn't want to find himself in a situation where, one day, Verstappen comes up to him and triggers an exit clause.
Instead, as soon as Jos Verstappen made the comment, Christian Horner should be sitting down and charting a path for the future of Red Bull.
Who should be the candidates?
As soon as Horner sits down to find out who he should build his team around, there's one major issue. Some of the best talents are already committed to long-term contracts.
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are not leaving Ferrari. Fernando Alonso has also signed a long-term contract. Carlos Sainz is on the market, but does Christian Horner want to build a team around a driver who was not a preferred choice for him almost a decade ago?
What that leaves us is with George Russell, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Russell's contract ends in 2025, and the manner in which his team boss has openly courted Max Verstappen, he would feel left out amidst all that.
Lando Norris is someone whose only bottleneck when it came to joining Red Bull was Max Verstappen's presence in the team. With that presence gone, he might be more open to the idea of joining Red Bull, and so would his teammate Oscar Piastri, who also has been on Horner's radar for some time.
There could even be a possibility of bringing in an Alex Albon or an Esteban Ocon, looking at their recent series of performances.
What combination or thought process goes into selecting the driver lineup or a succession plan for Max Verstappen after Adrian Newey's departure is up to Red Bull and the think tank?
What's certain, though, is that the team needs a contingency plan for the future because the tea leaves predicting the future couldn't be more explicit.
