Guenther Steiner has warned that Red Bull’s strategy team wi꧒ll take a major hit when Will Courtenay leavesꦡ.

ꦬRed Bull's head of race strategy will join McLaren as their spo🌺rting director, reportedly from mid-2026.

Steiner insists it is a further blow to Red Bu൲ll but they have the power to recover.

“Sooner or later, nobody🐈 will be left at Red Bull! There will be no office sp💞ace,” Steiner, an ex-Red Bull employee, told the Red Flags podcast.

“I know Will, he was there a long time. I🍎 think I employed him in the beginning.

“It’s one of 🍸those things. He didn’t see progression within Red Bull, and got an offer from McLaren to be sporting directorᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ.

“They don’t have one, and An😼drea Stel🎐la doesn’t want to do it all himself.

“Will is a good hire f🐈or them. He knows ꩲhis way around, he knows strategy, he knows sporting rules.

“Red Bu♎ll is restructuring anyway,ไ and maybe he wasn’t part of their plans.

“These things happen in F1. But, for sure, it does not make Red 𝔍Bull strongerꦺ with people like Will leaving.”

'McLaren not the strongest with strategy'

Courtenay’s role with race strategy ꦇhas been key to Red Bull’s dominance, leading to Max Verstappen’s three consecut📖ive F1 championships, Steiner insists.

Red Bull make theಞ least mistakes,” the former Haas team boss said.

“The strategy, y𓆏ou don’t hear if it goes right. You only hear i🌠f it goes wrong.

“You rarely hear it 🍸go wrong at Red Bull, and Will is a part of it. He’s the head of it.

“As a sporting director, I don’t know if strategy will work for Will at 🏅McLaren.

“But he knows how to do it, and what is needed. It 🐓will help them.

“McLaren is not the strongest with strategy.”

'Long list of people leaving'

Steiner expressed🐠 his concern for the quantity of departures from Red Bull.

Courtney follows Adrian Newey (who will join Aston Martin) and Jonathan Wheatley (who will go to Audi) as high-p♕rofile members of staff through the exit door.

“It’s a🔯 little bit more than normal,” Steiner said about the brain drain.

“Go back to l𝐆ast year. How many people left? Nobody.

“This year they are leaving left, rigℱht, and centre. There is a long list of people leaving.

“But it’s also [psychological] - people have been there a long time. “Someone leaves and they say ‘that will be a good move for me, as well, let’s get out while I’m still worth a lot of money because I was i🍸n the best team of the past five years’.

“You hav𝓰e a value.🐈 If you wait too long and the team isn’t strong, your value goes down.”

Team principal Christian Horner remains at the helm after a dಌifficult year when he went through an investigation into his behaviour, and has had to cope with Red Bull’s on-track decline.

“The captain is still there, Christian. The engineers aꦉre still ꦫthere,” Steiner said.

“Pierre Wache is still there, he’s very good.

“They will build up again with younger talent.

“It gives op🗹portunity to people who otherwise would go. With people on top leaving, there are the next people coming in.

“They could be as good as the☂ people leaving, or better. You just don’t k🎀now, you need to find out.

“They can fill a lot of the jobs from within.”