Christian Horner says there's a silver lining of sorts to the departure from Red Bull of its former head of aerodynamics Dan Fallows, as the move has allowed the team to give its in-house talent a chance to develop.
Fallows officially left Red Bull Racing early last year to join Aston Martin where the British engineer – acting as the team's new technical director – helped produce its AMR23 which is currently the second-best car on the grid in terms of performance.
Red Bull initially attempted to make life difficult for its ex-engineer by delaying the latter's transfer to Team Silverstone. But eventually the two teams struck a settlement.
Since, Red Bull has filled the void created by Fallows' exit from within its existing pool of engineers. Today, Horner reckons that its design and development department is as strong as its ever been in its history.
Aston Martin technical director Dan Fallows who previously led Red Bull's aero department.
"In the UK you’ve got seven teams within probably a 50-mile radius, so inevitably there’s going to be competition," Horner told Sky Sports.
"We’ve had a very low turnover of staff in our history at Red Bull, and it’s great that we’ve given talent a chance to develop and achieve great things when they go to other teams.
"I’m pleased for Dan that he’s doing a good job, but his departure has given other engineers an opportunity and everything is about evolution.
"The team we have now is even stronger than the one we had two years ago.
"We’re always looking inwardly and looking ahead."
Red Bull CTO Adrian Newey
The man still leading Red Bull's design team is its chief technology officer, Adrian Newey to whom answer RBR's technical director Pierre Wache and its head of performance engineering Ben Waterhouse.
While Newey has taken a step back on occasion to spend time on other interests and projects for Red Bull, he's been a fixture on the pit wall in recent seasons as he contributed to the team's return to the top last season.
Losing Newey would be a bitter blow for Red Bull, but Horner insists that's currently a very remote prospect.
"There’s always going to be rumours in this paddock, that’s Formula 1," Horner said. "He’s such an important part of our team and popular part of our team.
"It’s great to have him with us for the long term, but also to be involved in some of the things we’re now getting involved in."
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