F1 Rumor: Rivals in all-out pursuit to tear Red Bull F1 team apart

The Red Bull F1 team continues to beat rival teams like a drum week-in and week-out. They cannot beat Red Bull with talent, so the desperate rival teams are on an all-out blitz to poach talented individuals from Red Bull with huge money offers.

(GMM) Amid widespread reporting [more Fake Rumors?] that Adrian Newey has told Red Bull Racing he wants to leave the team before the end of 2024, his next move is now the subject of the latest wild speculation.

Adrian Newey, the Chief Technical Officer of Oracle Red Bull Racing looks on in the garage during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on April 06, 2024 in Suzuka, Japan. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Huge-money offers are rumored to have been made by Aston Martin, Ferrari and perhaps even Mercedes – amid f1-insider.com’s latest claim that Max Verstappen is set for post-Miami GP talks with top Mercedes figures.

Involved in those talks will be Toto Wolff, Max’s managers Jos Verstappen and Raymond Vermeulen, as well as Mercedes shareholder Jim Ratcliffe and Mercedes CEO Ola Kallenius.

A package worth an incredible $160 million per year for Verstappen, 26, is said to be on the table.

“Verstappen and Newey – will Red Bull lose them both?” Corriere dello Sport newspaper in Italy wonders.

Ralf Schumacher (who hates Horner) told Sky Deutschland: “Adrian Newey needs harmony, a good atmosphere – a workplace. And at the moment, you have to say clearly: Red Bull is falling apart.

“Christian Horner bears sole responsibility for this,” the former back marker F1 driver added. “He is clinging to power with all his might.

“I give Red Bull two more years, and if they continue to hold on to Horner, the team will sink into mediocrity. I’m pretty sure of that,” Schumacher said.

Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner and Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Consultant Dr Helmut Marko look on in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on March 09, 2024 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Former Ferrari driver Ivan Capelli thinks Newey is “unlikely” to choose Ferrari over a UK-based option, but he warned: “If he does come, it will be because he can bring some of his most loyal colleagues with him.”

According to top Dutch F1 journalist Erik van Haren, meanwhile, what the latest Newey and Verstappen rumors suggest is that all is not well at Red Bull despite the recent appearance of calm amid the power struggle and turmoil.

“Even those who fanatically declared that everything is fine again at Red Bull must now change tactic,” he wrote in his De Telegraaf column.