Jos Verstappen declared Red Bull are "in danger of falling apart" as he reacted to news of Adrian Newey's impending departure.
Newey told colleagues last week that he intends to leave, though Red Bull reminded everyone that he is contracted until the end of 2025. But an early exit has been negotiated and the team announced its plans on Wednesday morning.
Red Bull confirmed Newey will depart "in the first quarter of 2025" and will not have to see out his whole contract. And it is understood that the 65-year-old has also negotiated his way out of his non-compete clause.
That will free up Newey to join a rival team, should he decide to do so rather than retire. And driver Max Verstappen's father Jos said he is concerned about Red Bull's future as he reacted to the news.
He told De Telegraaf: "The team is in danger of falling apart. I was afraid of that earlier this year. For internal peace, it is important that key people stay on board. That is not the case now. Newey is leaving and earlier this year it also looked like Helmut [Marko] would be sent away. For the future, that is not good."
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His triple F1 champion son has yet to react to the news. But only last month he declared his belief that it is important that Red Bull keep hold of key personnel and specifically named Newey as a key member of their operation.
Verstappen said: "We have a lot of people working on the car right, so it's a whole team effort that has to come together. Everyone's ideas get taken into account and you build the car that we have today, so yeah for sure, having someone part of the team like Adrian, I think it's a massive boost for everyone and many people work together to achieve the car we have today."
Explaining his decision to leave, Newey said: "Ever since I was a young boy, I wanted to be a designer of fast cars. My dream was to be an engineer in Formula 1 and I've been lucky enough to make that dream a reality. For almost two decades it has been my great honour to have played a key role in Red Bull Racing's progress from upstart newcomer to multiple title-winning team.
"However, I feel now is an opportune moment to hand that baton over to others and to seek new challenges for myself. In the interim, the final stages of development of RB17 are upon us, so for the remainder of my time with the team my focus will lie there.
"I would like to thank the many amazing people I have worked with at Red Bull in our journey over the last 18 years for their talent, dedication and hard work. It has been a real privilege, and I am confident that the engineering team are well prepared for the work going into the final evolution of the car under the four-year period of this regulation set."
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