Zak Brown taunts Red Bull over Adrian Newey: “I bet it would be nice to have him around…”

McLaren CEO Zak Brown believes Red Bull’s recent high-profile F1 departures has “destabilised” the team, suggesting they’re missing the influence of Adrian Newey from a technical perspective.

McLaren sit just eight points behind Red Bull in the F1 constructors’ championship following the Italian Grand Prix.

Red Bull suffered their worst result in pure performance terms since Singapore last year, where they finished fifth with Max Verstappen.

Red Bull have lost a number of key personnel, with Rob Marshall joining McLaren last year.

Newey’s departure was announced ahead of the Miami Grand Prix earlier in the year, while Jonathan Wheatley will leave the team at the end of 2024 to become team principal at Audi.

Brown hasn’t been afraid to poke fun in the past, hinting that there have been a lot of “CVs floating around” with key Red Bull staff looking to leave.

Speaking after the race at Monza to Sky Sports, Brown gave his view on Red Bull.

“Ultimately I don’t know what’s going on in there,” he said. “Adrian Newey, I bet it would be nice to have him around the conference room table right now looking at how to improve the car and Jonathan Wheatley is still there but he’s moving on. Rob Marshall has joined us.

“You’ve got three of the most senior people that were in Red Bull - three huge contributors. It can’t not be a loss.

“We all have bad pit stops but it does seem to be that things are a bit more destabilised than they have been recently.”

Brown also once again categorically ruled out a move for Newey.

“He always returns my calls,” Brown added. “We’re good friends but as I said I am very happy with the race team that I have.” 

Newey is expected to join Aston Martin, with Sky's David Croft suggesting on Saturday that his future could be announced next week.