Helmut Marko, senior advisor to Red Bull, has explained that rival teams pay high salaries in times of cost caps and Red Bull often has no opportunity to spend more money. Now, however, Marko wants to “fight for every employee” and keep the talent in the team.

The Milton Keynes-based team is constrained in both top positions and financial resources. Although the salaries of the three highest-paid drivers are exempt from the cost cap, all other salaries must be included. As a result, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez’s team are heavily constrained by the budget cap and must manage their expenses very carefully.

These restrictions often result in the top team not only losing key talent, but also passing on ideas and information to rival teams waiting to poach VIPs. The most recent example was the announcement of the departure of sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, who will take over the role of team principal at Sauber in mid-2025, a team that will be managed by Audi as it transforms into the Audi factory team until 2026.

The sporting director, who has been with Red Bull since 2006, sees little chance of promotion, especially since Christian Horner will probably remain team boss for the foreseeable future. This situation prompted him to consider a tempting offer from newcomer Audi, which Red Bull “couldn’t have beaten” according to Marko. Red Bull will now find an internal solution and distribute Wheatley’s job among several team members.

Red Bull also had to cope with the departure of aerodynamics chief Dan Fallows to Aston Martin for the 2023 season. Fallows had helped develop a car that could well compete with the RB19.

McLaren also gained a significant advantage through the expertise of former Red Bull driver Rob Marshall in chassis development, who is now chief designer.

Given the cost cap, Red Bull fears that Newey and Wheatley could poach other key Red Bull team members for the teams they would later join. Marko plans to tackle this aggressively, as he told Auto Motor und Sport:

“We are broadly and well positioned and will fight for every employee.”

However, as Red Bull loses ground as the season progresses, it remains to be seen what measures Red Bull will take to retain its employees.