Red Bull confident of keeping Max Verstappen despite Paul Monaghan exit rumours

Chief engineer Paul Monaghan appears to be heading for the exit at Red Bull. Laurent Mekies, however, remains confident that enough strength in depth will remain within the technical team

During the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Paul Monaghan emerged as the latest senior Red Bull figure to be linked with a departure from the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

RacingNews365 was first to report on Friday that the 58-year-old chief engineer is on his way to Cadillac. Officially, neither team is willing to comment on the reports, but Motorsport.com understands from sources in the paddock that there is substance behind the story.

Although there has been no official announcement and the potential move would, in any case, be something for the longer term, the situation does not stand in isolation. Earlier this year, it became clear that Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase will join McLaren in 2028.

Previously, Adrian Newey, Jonathan Wheatley, Will Courtenay and Rob Marshall all left for rival teams, while Red Bull itself has parted ways with Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.

Each case, however, is different and has to be judged on its own merits – including personal financial considerations – and the same applies here, with Monaghan potentially taking up a more senior role within Cadillac’s engineering department.

Although Red Bull is not yet willing to comment publicly, insiders at the team stress that a succession plan is in place for every senior figure – including Monaghan.

Paul Monaghan, Chief Engineer, Red Bull Racing, in the Team Principals Press Conference

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images

“There are a lot of rumours about the team and the team personnel. And as much as we have commented on GP [Lambiase], because obviously he’s very exposed. He’s one of our very exposed engineers and he’s going into an even more exposed role, but I don’t think it will be right for me to comment on every single rumour that comes out,” Mekies said.

“If I look at the names that have been circulating in the last few months, most of them are still in the garage. Some had never wanted to leave, some have changed their mind and are staying with us.”

The latter remark appears to refer, among other things, to speculation surrounding Hannah Schmitz, although the reports regarding Monaghan seem to carry far more substance.

Is there enough strength in depth left within Red Bull?

While Red Bull does not want to discuss specific names at this stage, Mekies confirmed that, in his view, sufficient talent remains within the team for the future – even in the event of Monaghan’s departure.

“On that, I’m extremely confident”, Mekies said when asked by Motorsport.com. “And I refer to the comment I made earlier what was the most striking aspect of the first 12 months. The most striking aspect is the strength in depth that we have.

“We have incredible talent at all levels and therefore we’ll certainly not go and look for an excuse to tell you we are missing A, B or C in order to go back to ultimate competitiveness. We have everything in-house.

“If we need something to complete the equation, we will do it, but we are certainly not limited by the quality of the talents we have.”

Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Racing Team Principal

Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images

In practice, this means that Red Bull first looks to promote from within whenever senior figures leave. That was also the case earlier this year with chief performance and design engineer Ben Waterhouse.

“For Max, only a fast car matters”

Nevertheless, all changes within the team – combined with Red Bull’s current deficit on track – naturally raise the question of whether the team can do enough to convince Verstappen to remain beyond this season.

Mekies emphasises that only one thing matters: the stopwatch.

In that regard, Red Bull’s upgrade package in Spielberg is of major importance, not least because Mekies acknowledges that under the budget cap Red Bull cannot introduce upgrades indefinitely.

“Max wants a fast car. He always wanted a fast car, and he completely trusts us in making sure we are doing everything we can, short term and long term, to ensure a return to success and continuous success,” Mekies replied.

“As I said a few weeks ago, we are not asking Max every week [if he stays]. He’s pushing with us, he’s helping us to find the right development path for the car, again this morning doing very large test scans through the sessions to try to turn all the stones possible. So, it’s not a topic for us.

“The topic for us is get the car back to where we want it to be. And as you may, I hope, agree, if the car is back where we want it to be, there will be no discussion.”