Horner rips rival bosses over 'movement' comments

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has responded to rival Formula 1 team bosses Toto Wolff and Zak Brown's comments around a flood of personnel wanting out of the constructor.

While the team continues to dominate both championships, the Milton Keynes-based squad is enveloped in scandal.

Misconduct allegations levelled at Horner earlier this year reportedly triggered a falling out between key members of the team.

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Red Bull Racing team principle Christian Horner.

Horner has always denied the claims and was cleared by an internal investigation in February but a second probe is now underway after the female staff member at the centre of the allegations appealed the decision.

The internal turmoil has since seen chief technical officer and design guru Adrian Newey announce he will depart the team early next year.

During the Miami Grand Prix, Brown declared that Newey's exit would be "destabilising" for the champion team and foresaw several other leading figures racing for the door.

The head of McLaren said Newey was "the first domino to fall".

"My guess is [Newey is] not the last based on the resumes that are flying around. We've seen an increase in CVs coming our way from the [Red Bull] team," he said.

Mercedes boss Wolff also stated that his team had received many resumes from a considerable amount of Red Bull staffers across all roles.

McLaren chief executive officer Zak Brown (left) and Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff.

Horner hit back at the pair's comments, arguing that both should be more concerned with problems in their own teams.

"It's inevitable," he said of Brown and Wolff's comments.

"You know the two candidates involved. They talk a lot. I'm not going to get sucked into a tit-for-tat but I'd be more focused on Toto's own issues that he has.

"I don't have any concern about [our] strength and depth … of course, there is always going to be movement between teams."

Horner also claimed that Red Bull had poached more than 200 members of Mercedes' engine team in recent years.

"We've taken 220 people out of HPP [Mercedes High Performance Powertrains] into Red Bull Powertrains. So, when we talk about losing people, I would be more worried about the 200, not one or two," he said.

Speaking on Sky Sports F1, leading commentator and former driver Martin Brundle shared how asked Horner directly if the team was facing a revolving door of departures.

"I had a long private conversation with Christian as well and I said, 'Will you have a mass exodus'?," he said.

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner, driver Max Verstappen, chief technical officer Adrian Newey and team consultant Helmut Marko look on in the garage.

"If you've been part of a multiple championship winning team, you've got extra value if you change teams.

"It's a pretty small world we operate in.

"He went through, not too many specifics, but key people and departments that he's got in place because he knew Adrian was going to do this, sooner rather than later.

"He did a good job of convincing me that he's got great people looking at the chassis, the aero, the power unit [ahead of the new regulations coming into effect in 2026]."

Newey's departure adds to the speculation around star driver Max Verstappen's future.

Verstappen is reportedly also on unfavourable terms with the team following the controversy with Horner.

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