F1 News
Steiner jokes about 'emptying' Red Bull: 'Soon no one will be left'
- Ludo van Denderen
According to Red Bull decision-makers, nothing is wrong within the team, and it is normal for personnel to leave when you had so much recent success. The last leading figure to leave was Will Courtenay (Head of Race Strategy). Former team principal Guenther Steiner believes that the Austrian team do have to worry: "Sooner or later, no one will be left at Red Bull. The empty offices because everybody's going," he joked in the Red Flags Podcast.
Taking on the situation more seriously, Steiner believes McLaren made a good deal with signing Courtenay, who he employed during his time at the Austrian team. "Will has been there a long time, he knows his way around, he knows strategy, he knows sporting rules, he has been, I don't know how many races over the last 20 years, so for sure good bit. But Red Bull is actually anyway, maybe he wasn't part of their plan. So things like this happen in F1, but for sure, it doesn't make Red Bull stronger, with people like Will leaving."
Steiner sees more Red Bull staff leaving 'than normal'
According to the former team principal, Red Bull recently were the sharpest on optimising their strategy, claiming they 'made the fewest mistakes'. Steiner therefore believes he can help the British team improve a lot, because "McLaren is not the strongest one in strategy."
"It's a little bit more than normal. Because you just need to go back to last year, how many people were leaving there, nobody, noone was leaving last ten years, and all of a sudden this year, they're leaving left, right and centre.," Steiner said.
"But it's also psychic, it's like people have been there a long time and one is leaving, the other one says, ‘oh, that would be a good move for me as well’. And obviously, we're not at our strongest moment right now. So, let's get out of here while I'm still worth a lot of money because I was in the best team, or the best team the last five years. So, you've got to provide if you wait too long and the team is not as strong anymore, your value goes down."
This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sarkozi
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