'The show goes on' – Horner insists Red Bull have ‘strength and depth’ to cope with Newey and Wheatley departures

Christian Horner is confident that Red Bull have the “strength and depth” to cope with the departures of Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley, with the team boss stating that the moves have sparked an “evolution” at the squad rather than a “rebuild”.

It was confirmed last May that Newey would depart his role as Chief Technical Officer during the first quarter of 2025, leading to much speculation in the months that followed over what the famed designer’s next move would be.

READ MORE: From March to Red Bull – How long did it take Newey to make an impact at his previous F1 teams?

News later came in September that Newey had opted to join Aston Martin on a long-term deal as Managing Technical Partner, with the Briton set to start in his position on March 1.

Meanwhile it was announced in August that Sporting Director Wheatley would leave his position to become Team Principal of the Audi F1 Team, departing Red Bull at the end of 2024 before entering a period of gardening leave in 2025.

While the exits are both high-profile ones, Horner is not worried about this having a significant impact on the team going forward.

"There's only two going and obviously, Adrian left in Miami, so we haven't seen him,” Horner told Motorsport.com. “He's been working on the RB17 [hypercar] since then, so he's not been working on any F1 projects.

"Obviously, sad to see them go. They’ve both played important roles in the team over their tenure in the team.

READ MORE: Newey explains why he opted for 'old school' Aston Martin, rather than joining Hamilton in 2025 move to Ferrari

“But the show goes on, and I think we’ve got the strength and depth we’ve got. We have that and arguably 2026 – what we're gearing up for in 2026 with our own power unit – is by far the biggest challenge and the most ambitious project this team has ever taken on.

"So, 2025, Jonathan will step off the pit wall, but other than that, everything remains the same."

In terms of whether the squad are facing a rebuild after the departures of Newey and Wheatley, Horner responded: "I would say rebuild goes way too far for two people that have left. It's evolution.

"It's something that has been on the cards for a little while, so something that has been part of the planning for some time."

A restructure has seen several members of the team promoted into new roles for 2025; this has included Steve Knowles becoming the new Head of Sporting Regulations – meaning that he will be the link between the team and governing body the FIA – after previously acting in a senior strategy position, while Richard Wolverson becomes Head of Racing Operations, where he will be responsible for day-to-day track operations.

READ MORE: Horner explains why Red Bull didn’t move for Sainz when he was on the market

Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, meanwhile, will act as Head of Racing while also continuing in his role with Verstappen.

Reflecting on the changes, Horner added: “It's just a natural progression trackside with those personnel. It's great because it gives them an opportunity and sometimes an organisation, if it remains stagnant, it fails to progress.

“So, I think this is a fantastic opportunity of progression for many people in the team that have been long standing team members that deserve that opportunity."

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