Saudi Arabia Grand Prix: stage preview

After the boring Bahrain, where the first Grand Prix was a continuation of the tests, all of us – the team, the drivers and the fans – are waiting for an event of a completely different scale: bright, lively and risky. It’s a shame other songs in the Middle East aren’t like Jeddah. Or maybe it’s a good thing there’s only one like them!

On a high-speed circuit, where many corners are blind, although every year they try to make them visible, the skill of the riders, their ability to attack and accurately measuring the degree of risk make the stage in Saudi Arabia incredibly spectacular.

During the three Grand Prix that took place in Jeddah, the drivers eliminated many cars, but the best remained the best. Sometimes there was the feeling that the racers were simply lucky to avoid serious accidents, and this sense of constant danger was very popular with the spectators. One of the best songs of recent years.

Until recently it seemed that the stages from the Middle East on the circuits built by Hermann Tilke could not in principle be interesting, such as Jeddah appeared. It is true that they say that the organizers left Herman no choice. Well that’s nice!)

This weekend the preliminary race is again the Formula 2 stage, which is also very interesting.

But despite all the interesting sports components, the main topic of the coming weekend will be the future of Christian Horner. After the death of team owner Dietrich Mateschitz, a power struggle was inevitable. Too good a piece – one of the best teams in Formula 1.

The new owners did not immediately change everything, but outlined their intentions. Soon the resignation of the head of AlphaTauri, Franz Tost, who was already planning to retire, was announced. The ‘junior’ team changed its status and was given a new leadership and name.

At the end of last season, the most successful season in the history of Red Bull Racing, the conflict in the ‘senior’ team reached the pages of the press. They began to say that Horner was trying to drive Helmut Marko out of the team by taking over all branches of power, to which the Austrian replied that he had a contract until the end of 2024, “and when and how he will end his career will be decided by him, not by Mr Horner.” Red Bull’s owners soon confirmed that Marco was staying and the initiative went to him.

Once upon a time, Hellmuth brought Horner to Red Bull Racing from F3000, making him the youngest team leader in Formula 1. Marko convinced Mateschitz to invite Newey, and in 2022 he convinced both to stay when they received a generous offer from Ferrari. He has always been Red Bull’s ’eminence grise’ and formally fulfilled the role of advisor. And when Horner decided that the team no longer needed consultants, the conflict entered an open phase.

As a result, the team was divided into two camps. One of them includes Horner and the Thai co-owners of Red Bull, who own 51% of the lemonade company’s shares. In the other – the Austrian management of the company, Helmut Marko, Adrian Newey and both Verstappens – father and son. And it was clear that this wasn’t going to end well.

At the beginning of February, Red Bull unexpectedly started an internal investigation against the team leader. The reason was accusations made by one of the employees. Information about this leaked through the German and Dutch press and almost immediately details appeared – it was about intimate correspondence with an employee in the messenger.

Horner later asked for this correspondence to be deleted and offered 650 thousand pounds (760 thousand euros) in compensation. The employee responded with a complaint of inappropriate behavior. Apparently someone just paid more. When the accusations became known to the head of the Red Bull group, Mark Mateschitz, and Oliver Mintzlaff, who is responsible for sports activities, the matter was made official.

An external expert was invited, who found nothing unusual in this correspondence and rejected the employee’s complaint – the company released an official statement about this. It seemed like the problem was solved, but it wasn’t. The next day, Horner’s personal correspondence was sent via anonymous email and GoogleDisc to executives, team bosses and journalists from the FIA ​​​​and Formula 1. More than two hundred addresses.

An extremely low action. Publication of personal correspondence is unacceptable. This is a forbidden technique, but apparently the end (Horner’s displacement) justified the means. Piranha Club (c), at its worst.

A statement from Max’s father, Jos Verstappen, added fuel to the fire. Without holding any position within the team, Jos openly stated that Horner should leave his post as leader.

The Formula 1 world has been turned upside down. What is happening seems like a farce. The owners of Liberty Media’s Formula 1, who have just stabilized everything, do not need this negative exposure at all. Like the FIA, federation president Mohammed bin Sulayem even turned to Max Verstappen asking him to publicly support Horner. And Horner himself, in an attempt to resolve the situation, “spoke to Max’s representative.” Not a driver with a team representative, but a team with a driver representative!

Not everyone passes the copper pipe test. It is clear that Max and his entourage are in love with fame, success and money. No, the success is well deserved, but it must be shared with the late Mateschitz, with Newey, with Horner and Marko. With this winning car, Sebastian Vettel won four championship titles in a row, and this year Verstappen will win his fourth. Marco has already indicated that he will not object to Max leaving if he takes such an initiative.

Let’s see how they get out of this difficult situation.

Have an interesting weekend!