Max Verstappen’s strong performance in Bahrain, which ended with his 55th victory in Formula 1, looked from the outside like yet another successful race in the career of the three-time world champion. At first glance, there was nothing in Red Bull Racing’s well-coordinated work in the early stages of the season to indicate that the situation within the team was far from rosy.
Due to the Horner case, this team is now receiving more attention, and journalists who worked on and closely followed the Bahrain Grand Prix saw clear signs of an emerging split.
On the one hand are the Austrian management of the company, Helmut Marko and Adrian Newey, who believe that Christian Horner has crossed a certain line, and this should lead to serious consequences. On the other hand, Red Bull’s Thai co-owners, who own 51% of the shares, support Horner and believe he should at least remain team leader.
Despite the leak (apparently planned) of confidential information related to this scandalous story, Horner continued to smile, comment on the team’s work and defiantly appeared in the paddock with his wife, Geri Halliwell, a former member of the once popular group Spice. Girls.
One of those who monitored the situation within the Red Bull Racing team from the outside was Ralf Schumacher, a former Formula 1 driver and now expert at the TV channel Sky Deutschland.
“The war of nerves continues: either all participants will eventually have to apologize to each other, or someone will have to leave. The brand image has already suffered enormous damage, says Ralph. – The situation at Red Bull is extremely turbulent. I can imagine Max Verstappen saying one thing and acting very differently. The structure of the team is cracked and everything can fall apart very quickly.”
Schumacher is also prepared to assume that, in the worst case, key figures could leave the team: “Adrian Newey has already achieved everything and just wants to quietly develop cars. But Horner may have to do this himself.
If I were the management of Red Bull, before Newey and Max Verstappen left the team, I would try to find a peaceful solution, so that there would be a calm atmosphere in the team again.”
What Ralph means is this: one day during the weekend in Bahrain, many saw Toto Wolff discussing something with Jos Verstappen, the father of the three-time world champion. When asked to comment on this, the Mercedes team boss said: “I have known Jos for 25 years, things have happened in our relationship, but now I just congratulate him on his son’s achievements. Max is performing in a galaxy of his own.”
But when asked directly whether the Dutch driver could end up at Mercedes in 2025, Wolff initially pretended not to understand the question, since Max’s contract with Red Bull runs until 2028, but then he said anyway: “Nothing is possible. .” to rule out”.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
