Christian Horner believes Red Bull can overcome the departures of Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley and still be a force to be reckoned with over the coming seasons.

It was confirmed last May that Newey would leave his post as chief technical officer during the first part of 2025, with the 66-year-old opting to join Aston Martin on a long-term deal, starting in March 2025.

Meanwhile, it was also announced in August that Wheatley would depart from his role as sporting director to become team principal of the Audi F1 team in 2026, entering a period of gardening leave this year.

Though both exits are high-profile in nature and Horner acknowledges their importance to Red Bull's recent success, the team principal is confident they can deal with upcoming challenges in the wake of the departures.

"There's only two going and, obviously, Adrian left in Miami, so we haven't seen him,” Horner told Motorsport.com. “He's been working on the RB17 [hypercar] since then, so he's not been working on any F1 projects.

"Obviously, sad to see them go. They’ve both played important roles in the team over their tenure in the team.

“But the show goes on, and I think we’ve got the strength and depth we’ve got. We have that and arguably 2026 – what we're gearing up for in 2026 with our own power unit – is by far the biggest challenge and the most ambitious project this team has ever taken on."

Horner stopped short of stating that a rebuild was in order after Newey and Wheatley's departures, instead saying that it had led to a restructuring of the team that was inevitable anyway.

"I would say rebuild goes way too far for two people that have left; it's evolution" said Horner.

"It's something that has been on the cards for a little while, so something that has been part of the planning for some time."