Red Bull Boss Denies Staff Exodus

Earlier this week, Ferrari have announced a quite important reshuffle of their operational staff at Maranello, confirming some expected changes – Chris Dyer lost his job to Pat Fry for his strategy mistake in the Abu Dhabi, which didn't surprise anyone – while also revealing some important additions for the 2011 campaign.

And we're obviously talking about Neil Martin, the 38-year-old Briton who has been Red Bull's chief strategist until a few days ago. The news made the headlines in Italy and made some wonder whether Martin's ousting is only the start of a larger exodus of staff operated by the newly crowned world champions.

However, talking to Germany's Bild newspaper, the very owner of the Red Bull Racing team Dietrich Mateschitz moved quickly to dismiss those allegations, confirming deal extensions operated to at least 50 employees for 2011.

“No,” answered the Austrian billionaire when asked by the Bild if others are to follow Martin out of the Milton Keynes headquarters. “We recently extended the contracts of our 50 most important people.”

Mateschitz also addressed the fears raised by the same Bild publication, according to which Martin's departure could cause reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel to reconsider his stay at Red Bull for the future.

“Sebastian knows very well what team he can count on for the future,” he added.