Helmut Marko points to key changes for Red Bull in the wake of McLaren’s recent poaching

Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko has hinted at upcoming changes to the team’s revamped hierarchy. Following McLaren’s recent robbery of racing strategy chief Will Courtenay, Marko has revealed an important name that could take his place.

McLaren recently confirmed the appointment of Courtenay as its new sporting director, who will take up the position once the contract with Red Bull is concluded in mid-2026. The signing of the contract left another dent in the Milton Keynes team, which has seen the departure of several important staff over the last few months.

Since the start of the 2024 season, Red Bull has been dealing with a major setback following the departure of its technical director, Adrian Newey, to Aston Martin. Widely considered one of the most successful designers in Formula 1 history, Newey has played a key role in the development of Red Bull’s dominant ground-effect cars, most notably the 2023 RB19, which has delivered 21 wins out of 22 Grands Prix. He is due to join Aston Martin in March 2025 as managing technical partner and shareholder of the team.

Another key employee that Red Bull lost to a rival team was sporting director Jonathan Wheatley. He will join the Sauber F1 team as team principal in the middle of next year, under the leadership of Mattia Binotto, the team’s new CEO and technical director. Wheatley’s prospects at Sauber could improve even further once Audi’s takeover of the team is completed in 2026, as Formula 1 enters a new era of regulations.

Following several other recent departures, Red Bull announced structural changes to the team aimed at elevating existing talent to senior positions, leading to the promotion of Max Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, to the position of head of racing. However, Marko revealed in a video for Motorsport-Total.com, as reported by GPblog.com, that there is one important person the team cannot afford to leave. He said:

“It’s a natural progression when you’re so successful that people are poached.

“There is someone among us who can take over this position, and that is Hannah Schmitz. Will Courtenay wasn’t interested in what we proposed. And he had an offer for the position (sports director at McLaren), something that is also more financially attractive.”

Marko stated that the team’s priority is to secure the world championship this year and do everything possible to stop Verstappen. Added:

“But it is clear that together we have to make sure that we can win the world championship this year and also build a fast car for next year. But the most important thing is that we can keep Max Verstappen.”