In the paddock it is taken for granted that within a few days the team principal will be dismissed. Are we moving towards a McLaren-style dyarchy?
It seems like we’re running out of time, and tomorrow could be Christian Horner’s last day in Red Bull. The end of an era before even starting season number twenty of the team and for the man who created it. But who now seems no longer worthy of remaining in his place, despite his birthright, despite his successes. The outcome of the internal investigation into Horner’s alleged “inappropriate behavior” towards an employee has not yet been made known. But it is obvious that, being the champion and dominating team, the topic took center stage as much as, and more than, the times on the track.
TWO SOULS
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And radio-paddock says that we are at the epilogue. So much so that there wasn’t even much discussion about the possibility or otherwise of him leaving, but rather about what the team’s structure will be like. A crucial question after all, we are less than a week away from returning to the Sakhir track for the first GP of the longest season ever. And so yesterday many were talking about how destabilizing it will be, for the team and for everyone, to no longer see Chris Horner’s sardonic smile at the Red Bull wall. A smile that the team principal did not show off yesterday, as expected. Just as he wasn’t wearing the team’s official shirt. However, this detail is no longer relevant, given that in the past he had not shown up in uniform at the tests. It is obvious, however, that in the current precarious situation every little detail is analysed, even if only to have some premonition of the Red Bull that will be. To understand what the outcome of the adjustment process will be after just one season without owner Dieter Mateschitz, who passed away in 2022. To say that there are two souls within the team is to simplify things. Remembering Horner’s rather harsh stance after Helmut Marko’s latest politically incorrect outings (“Perez is South American, he struggles to concentrate”) is already something more concrete. As well as Max Verstappen’s equally firm statements in defense of his mentor Marko when his future seemed uncertain in mid-2023. When the “adviser”, as he is called, said he was in favor of the sale of the then AlphaTauri. An eventuality to which Horner has always said he was against. Now the second team, with the name of Racing Bulls, is the cause of other possible, probable, controversies, because it has been equipped with cars that resemble the RB19 in every way, the Red Bulls of 2023. Already yesterday in Bahrain they knocked loudly with the times (especially Daniel Ricciardo), with the discontent of the other teams that ride.
WHO SHOWS THE FACE?
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And then another, more important, issue was also stirring within Red Bul: that of engines. In three years we moved from Honda power units to those branded ourselves albeit always with Japanese supervision and know-how, and then settled in pectore with Ford, which will join in 2026. An agreement that could have been with Porsche, as advocated by the Austro-Germans, i.e. by Marko, by the CEO Oliver Mintzlaff and Mark Mateschitz, and on the other hand opposed by Horner who would have won by virtue of the good relations with the other part of the ownership, the Thai one of the Yoovidhya family which, holding 51%, has the final say. Now, if there really is even just part of this background behind Horner’s departure, it will be clear from the choices made to replace him. It seems clear that there will not be a single team principal, but rather a McLaren-type scheme, therefore a technical figure on the wall, the most popular being Jonathan Wheatley, or both, with a CEO to put his face to it. And that’s the question: who will be Red Bull’s Zak Brown?
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