F1: Verstappen not worried about loss of Rob Marshall

F1 World Driving Champion is not worried that McLaren is poaching engineer Rob Marshall from his Red Bull team.

Marshall will assume the role of technical director for engineering and design for the struggling Woking squad.

“Well, I think a lot of people have made this very big, some media too”, Verstappen told the Dutch subsidiary of Motorsport.com.

“But in reality, he was no longer so involved in the car we have now. He was more on long-term projects, for example, towards 2026.”

“Of course, we would have preferred to keep him,” he said.

“But if you know what he has been offered by McLaren, I understand that he is going there for a few years. Then he can go fishing, I think!”

“I think, McLaren spends that half of the budget ceiling on the offer for him!” Red Bull boss Christian Horner said.

“In that respect, you can’t blame him for wanting to go that way.

Rob Marshall, the Chief Engineering Officer of Red Bull Racing talks with Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner in the garage during practice for the Formula One Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

“Although his contract with us went through for a while, he wanted to be directly involved with Formula 1 himself. As a result, we have made an agreement with him and I made a deal with Zak Brown for a reported $1 million, a deal that works well for everyone in my view.

“He has worked for us for 17 years and done some excellent things, such as packaging the battery at the gearbox and the operation of the KERS system from 2009 to 2013.

“He has played a significant role in building Red Bull Racing. During the last debrief we did something special for Rob. When someone goes to another team, you normally say to him ‘F**k off’, but with Rob it is different. He’s just a good guy.”