How F1’s spending rules left Red Bull’s hands tied over top staff departures

Red Bull has revealed how Formula 1’s financial realities played their part in it losing key staff members like Jonathan Wheatley and Will Courtenay this year.

The Milton Keynes-based squad is undergoing a period of organisational restructuring, with a number of its senior figures having accepted jobs elsewhere and set to move on.

Its chief technical officer Adrian Newey is departing for Aston Martin, sporting director Wheatley is becoming team boss at Sauber/Audi while head of strategy Courtenay is also taking a step up to join McLaren as sporting director.

The three high-profile departures have grabbed headlines off the back of a season where the squad has faced challenges both on and off track.

But while some have pointed to these key departures as being a sign of a team in trouble, moves like this are nothing out of the ordinary as it is commonplace for rivals to offer big money deals to poach experienced staff.

However Red Bull says the ability to make counter-offers has long gone because, in a cost-cap era, spending is so limited.

F1’s cost cap rules take into account the wages of all relevant operational personnel at a team, excluding the top three earners. While the identify of these three individuals at each squad is not made public, it is thought that neither Wheatley nor Courteney formed part of the top three at Red Bull.

Speaking about the challenges of keeping hold of top personnel in current F1, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said: “You can’t have a Galactus because you can’t afford it. You’ve got to look at bang for buck and it forces you to make some really tough decisions.

“It’s tough. Jonathan was a very good sporting director, but he was an expensive asset. So you have to weigh things up.

“When he got the opportunity to move to Audi, it was: ‘Do you know what? I think you should go for that because of the way that regulations are. We’re limited in scope and what we can do for you here.

“’So, if you have an opportunity to further yourself and go and earn significantly more money, go for it.’”

Horner says that he fully understands the motivations for senior staff members wanting to move on – especially if circumstances allowed them to take a position that was not available at Red Bull, plus a boost to their wages.

Their departures are not all negative, though, because…