Red Bull need to make a "big-name signing" from elsewhere on the Formula 1 grid to start turning the tide of rivals hiring their senior figures, according to the latest F1 Show podcast.
The unexpected announcement last week that Gianpiero 'GP' Lambiase, Max Verstappen's engineer and the team's head of racing, would be joining McLaren from 2028 represented what will become the latest high-profile departure from the former world champion team since the end of 2023.
Lambiase will follow the path to McLaren taken by former colleagues Rob Marshall (chief designer) and Will Courtenay (head of strategy), while Adrian Newey (chief technical officer) and Jonathan Wheatley (sporting director) have also defected to rivals.
Last year also saw the seismic exit of Christian Horner as team principal after 20 years, while the influential Helmut Marko left his long-standing advisor role.
Speaking on the latest episode of The F1 Show, the Your Site F1 panel discussed the situation at Red Bull amid a difficult start to the sport's new era for the former world champions which sees them sit sixth in the Constructors' Championship on just 16 points after three races.
"Nothing helps motivation more than winning and Red Bull don't look like a team that are going to be winning soon, given the performance of the car in the first three races," said commentator David Croft.
"And I think Laurent Mekies has got a very difficult job on his hands to continue that transition from the Christian Horner era to the new era, be it a Laurent Mekies era or an Oliver Mintzlaff era. Has it become more corporate and other decisions being made in Austria rather than Milton Keynes?
"They've lost a lot of staff now. And not just the headline staff, but people underneath as well. The number one mechanic that's been there right from the early days, left last week.
"It's not people deserting a sinking ship, but it's people thinking that their success in their careers can lie elsewhere outside of Milton Keynes.
"For many years, that was never the case. People were loyal to Red Bull, loyal to Christian Horner, and loyal to the overall game of winning championships.
"Red Bull have not always been the most successful team on the grid. It's peaks and troughs. And at the moment, they're heading towards a bit of a trough and need to recruit.
"They could do with a big name signing, but I don't know who that will be."
Red Bull signed a significant number of engine staff from a previously-dominant Mercedes when they started building their engine division from 2021 but have since found rivals hiring their own long-standing figures.
On that recent trend of exits and question of culture in order to keep a winning team and atmosphere together, Karun Chandhok replied: "I think the culture point is really important because, at the end of the day, you look at Red Bull last year, they won six out of the last nine Grands Prix.
"The car improved a hell of a lot. They arguably had the fastest car at a lot of that back end of the season last year, or at least equal fastest. Clearly, people need more than just success on track.
"And I think for whatever reason, this brain drain has gone on and there's a cultural shift that has happened throughout the organisation.
"There's a big job there for Laurent Mekies and the ownership from Red Bull in Austria to figure out 'how are we going to stop this? How are we going to stop the brain drain? How do we make ourselves attractive?'.
"Right now, you want to attract people from Mercedes. They're the ones winning. You have to try and rebuild.
"And I think one of the things that they've got to be worried about is good people attract other good people.
"How long before 'GP' starts calling the other 20 people who are sitting in their engineering office and saying, 'hey, you know what, guys? This place down at Woking, this is a really nice place to work. How do you fancy coming down here?' And all of a sudden, how long before that core group starts to break up?
"We've seen it so many times.
"Adrian Newey went from team to team to team and dragged good people. Ross Brawn did the same. I think that's something Red Bull really needs to be worried about. They need a big-name signing, not just for the skill set that person can bring, but the people that they will attract."
Formula 1 returns on May 1-3 with the Miami Grand Prix, the season's second Sprint weekend, live on Your Site F1.
