Will Jonathan Wheatley & Adrian Newey’s Exit Be Enough for Max Verstappen to Call it Quits

 “Let Christian believe that Verstappen will stay,” said Toto Wolff, who was in hot pursuit of Max Verstappen earlier this season. Ever since the news of the Christian Horner Controversy broke out before the beginning of the 2024 season campaign, the future of Red Bull doesn’t look great as the reining champions’ dreams seem to crumble like a house of cards.

From Adrian Newey leaving the team after 2 decades and half a dozen championships to now Johnathan Wheatley, leaving for German pastures. The series of domino effect is so intriguing that the biggest questions are if Red Bull is finished or if Max Verstappen will leave Red Bull. Let us understand this argument in a two-fold manner.

Why Johnathan Wheatly’s departure can send alarm bells ringing for Max Verstappen’s team Red Bull?

Jonathan Wheatley, the Sporting Director at Red Bull, becomes the second key figure to leave the reining champion team. In normal circumstances, people usually move in the direction of the top players and not away from them, but that hasn’t been the case for Red Bull’s clan. Adrian Newey’s departure from the team was a blow that Milton Keynes probably won’t recover from. Right after the announcement, the rumors of Max Verstappen’s exit also became ripe. Jos Verstappen’s very public fight with Christian Horner didn’t help the cause of the team, which recently lost its dominant edge over other teams and has been outperformed by McLaren in more races than not.

Announcing the news, Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner thanked Wheatley for his role in the team’s success. The statement read, “It has been a long and successful relationship with Jonathan, over 18 years. His contribution to six World Constructors’ Titles and seven World Drivers’ Championship, first as Team Manager and latterly Sporting Director, will forever be a marker in our Team history. Jonathan will remain in his position until the end of the 2024 season, as the Team seek to defend both our World Drivers’ and World Constructors’ Titles successfully. A period of gardening leave will follow in 2025.”

This departure of Johnathan Wheatly will now just add to the worries of Red Bull and their strained situation with Max Verstappen. Why do I say this? I’ll explain.

Can Max Verstappen leave Red Bull?

Wheatley was such a key figure that he was considered a possible successor to Horner in the spring, at the height of the dispute surrounding the team boss. However, with his departure on the cards, and the Red Bull alchemist already on his way out, the team’s future seems bleak. Though the Horner controversy has died down, reports have been constantly wondering if Red Bull is falling apart. This is not the first time that the headlines are filled with this conjecture as Senior Verstappen’s outburst sparked rumors of his son leaving the team.

Red Bull clan, which felt safe having the F1’s history’s best car designer, an extremely skillful pit crew to even an outstanding strategist and driver, is now in the most insecure of situations. The departures of key figures and their continuously slowing pace may give Christian Horners sleepless nights as Max Verstappen’s presence is the last trump card he holds. But the question is till when? Verstappen was seen livid after the Hungarian Grand Prix where his exchanges on the radio expressed clear frustration at the team may be giving us an insight into the ground reality of the team.

To add to that, the onus of championship win and race win seems to fall on his shoulders solely with no help from his teammate (whose contract was extended despite his form). Toto Wolff has been openly flirting with the driver and the three-time world champions’ reasons to be loyal to Red Bull are constantly depleting. His presence now hangs by a thread as Wheatley’s exit might have been the first of the last straws.