Verstappen: You can't stop people [from leaving Red Bull]

Red Bull have suffered some high-profile staff hemorrhage recently, the most significant being the departure of their chief technical officer, Adrian Newey, who will join Aston Martin in 2025.

Their long-serving sporting director, Jonathan Wheatley, was also announced to be leaving and will take on the role of team principal at Audi's Formula 1 project. The team's head strategy, Will Courtenay, was recently poached by McLaren, who also hired chief engineer Rob Marshall from Red Bull early in 2024.

All that comes in the aftermath of a tumultuous period for Red Bull at the start of the current F1 season when their boss Christian Horner was under investigation for the sexting scandal. While Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing, the controversy has taken its toll on the defending F1 world champions, with Verstappen's future as well not secure despite having a contract with the team until 2028.

To make matters worse, Verstappen is currently struggling to defend his title against McLaren's Lando Norris, as Red Bull seem to have lost their way with the development of their RB20 since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.

But the Dutchman is realistic about the situation and commented on recent staff departures, he told Motorsport.com: "As I always said, I would have preferred if everyone had stayed, but in the end, you can't stop people.

"If you force them to stay when they don't really want to be here anymore, if they are disappointed or don't fully get what they want, then maybe it's better for them to take up a new challenge elsewhere. Even if for the whole team collectively, it would have been better if everything had stayed the way it was.

"It's always been like that with successful teams, people will start picking them apart. You see that in any sport. And some people get such big offers from other teams that that plays a role as well," he maintained.

On the other hand, Verstappen is confident the technical department, now led by technical director Pierre Wache, can continue to do a good job at Red Bull in the future.

Commenting on his working relationship with Wache, the triple F1 champion said: "It's very good, Pierre and I talk a lot.

"When I'm in the factory, I always have a meeting with him. He's very motivated and I enjoy being involved. Things are working quite well, it's just that the results aren't what we want right now. It's up to us to turn that around as a team.

"I have faith that people know what they're doing, they've already shown that. Other teams have very good people too, but I don't think that's the issue right now. We just took a wrong turn, so it was time to hit the reset button and go in a different direction.

"At the end of the day it's not just two or three people who make the difference. It's about the collective. Everyone has to chip in and work well within their role, that's the most important thing," Verstappen concluded.

With six Grand Prix weekends remaining, Verstappen still leads Norris in the F1 drivers' championship by 52 points.