Red Bull handed fresh blow as key figure set to leave amid Max Verstappen uncertainty

Red Bull Racing have been handed a fresh blow with chief engineer Paul Monaghan set to leave his role.

It comes at a time when there is already great disarray within the Austrian racing team amid their poor start to the Formula 1 season.

Max Verstappen currently sits seventh in the season rankings after he finished fourth in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix last time out.

It means the 28-year-old is already an enormous 101 points behind runaway leader Kimi Antonelli and a further 60 points behind Lewis Hamilton, who sits second in the leaderboard after the first seven races of the season.

Red Bull will hope to bounce back at the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend, with the British, Belgian and Hungarian race weekends still to come before the summer break.

Verstappen reportedly has an option in his current Red Bull Racing contract that would allow him to mutually terminate the deal if he is not in the top two when the season stops for a summer break.

While it is entirely hypothetical at the moment, it is not entirely out of the question that he could look to activate the clause at the end of the year. Verstappen has previously stated that he intends to see out his contract with Red Bull, which runs until 2028, though that could change if they continue to be left behind by rivals on the track.

To add to their possible misery, ESPN claims Monaghan is also set to leave his role within the team, with a move to Cadillac already mooted. The chief engineer has been a key part of Red Bull since he joined in 2005, and his potential exit would be a significant blow at a time of great uncertainty for the team.

He is one of the few remaining figures at Red Bull from their dominance between 2010 and 2014, but looks set to be the latest high-profile exit. It was confirmed last month that Verstappen's long-time race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, is set to join McLaren, while former team boss Christian Horner and racing advisor Helmut Marko both left in 2025. Design legend Adrian Newey left for Aston Martin, and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley left for Audi in 2024.

"If I look at the names that have been circulating the last few months, most of them are still in the garage," Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies said when asked about Monaghan.

"Some have never wanted to leave, some have changed their minds, and some are staying with us. So I don't think it would be fair for our people, through the ranks, that I start commenting on all the rumours.

"Paul is actually here today. He has been working very hard to get our car out this morning. And as I said, we also made very clear that there is nothing more important to us than making sure we are in a position to keep our balance and to attract the ones we need, and that remains the highest priority."