The controversy surrounding Red Bull team principal Christian Horner earlier this year had a significant impact on their staff, as noted by a former F1 engineer.
Julien Simon-Chautemps, who previously worked as Kimi Raikkonen’s race engineer, suggested that the allegations against Horner played a role in the departure of Red Bull’s chief technical officer Adrian Newey.
Horner was cleared of inappropriate behavior following an internal investigation, despite the employee’s appeal being dismissed in August.
Some of Red Bull’s competitors speculated that Newey’s exit, considered one of F1’s top designers, was related to the investigation of Horner. McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown voiced his support for Newey, stating that he is a person of high integrity. However, Horner denied any connection between the two incidents.
Simon-Chautemps emphasized that Newey’s departure may not have had a significant impact on the team’s performance, as other talented designers like technical director Pierre Wache remain at the team. He highlighted the collaborative effort within F1 teams and stressed the importance of a strong technical director but also acknowledged the contributions of the team as a whole.
He also expressed doubt that Newey’s departure in May directly caused the team’s recent performance decline.
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“Red Bull were winning relatively easily, very easily last year. The rules haven’t changed that much for ’24. If you look at the development path of an F1 team it’s quite flat because, yes, you can improve and compete, but it’s quite difficult to make a huge improvement.”
He suggested that Red Bull may have taken a wrong turn in their car development, leading to a performance decline. Despite this, Newey’s departure may not be the sole reason for the team’s struggles.
Simon-Chautemps revealed that sources within the team indicated a negative impact from the allegations against Horner.
“Add to that everything that happened at the beginning with Christian and what happened internally, for having been part of the team, you’re talking about 1,000 people, for sure it has influenced people negatively and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that a big part of Adrian’s decision was what happened with Christian at the beginning of the year and how the whole story was dealt with.”
Red Bull has seen other key members depart this year, including sporting director Jonathan Wheatley and head of strategy Will Courtenay. Newey will also be joining Aston Martin.
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