1997 Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has delivered his verdict on Red Bull's current campaign, claiming that the Milton Keynes outfit has "lost its sparkle" after it has "gotten rid of everyone that's made this team what it is today."
Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Show following the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, Villeneuve raised concerns about the trajectory of Red Bull.
"Well, they need to find a way to try and keep him there because he's the only good thing in the team right now, other than the engine, because as we found out, the engine is very good, the ICE part of the engine," the Canadian said in response to rumours of four-time champion Max Verstappen's exit.
"It's become a very political place in the last two or three years. It seems that there's so much internal strife over who's going to lead, who's going to do that, and everybody's been kicked out. It's very difficult to see a good future at Red Bull. It's really odd.
"They rode the wave. Right now they're going down, and they haven't reached the bottom yet. So that's a tough one. It's lost its sparkle. Nobody talks about the Red Bull team as, 'The crazy, fun, fast team. They will always find a solution.'
"No, they're not even part of the equation anymore. We don't talk about them. We just talk about, 'It's tough on Max, but thank God he's there because he can still drive this car hard.' That's more of the narrative right now. Not the team but Max."
In addition to Verstappen's potential departure, which the Dutchman has been open about after failing to enjoy the new regulation cars, the team has seen a large number of high-profile exits in recent years. Included in those were Christian Horner, Jonathan Wheatley, Helmut Marko and Adrian Newey, although it is worth noting that the reasons for some of these departures are not known publicly, including which party made the decision.
"So, it's a tough place, but they've gotten rid of everyone that's made this team what it is today, which is crazy because even Max arrived after the team had been built," Villeneuve continued. "He was the last addition to the team, but now he's the last remaining soldier, and that makes it really, really tough because he cannot handle the team on his own.
"He's not a car designer. He's very good at developing a car, saying what's needed, but you still need the people around you. But as you see, even Helmut Marko was pushed aside, and now it looks like the young driver programme is... Nobody's talking about it anymore, so everything has kind of been destroyed and has to be rebuilt.
"But it will be rebuilt, and for that, we need to wait for all the political aspects to be settled."
Red Bull currently sits fourth in the constructors' standings.
