The fall out from the Red Bull saga which has engulfed the Formula One paddock for the first three rounds of the 2024 championship, is far from over. Currently the female accuser of the team boss has been suspended and is appealing the decision to dismiss her allegations.
As long as the process remains internal, then Red Bull control what information comes out and what remains confidential. Yet the employee is reported to be planning to bring the matter into the public domain by lodging a complain with an employment tribunal should her appear be rejected by the Red Bull investigation.
Cracks appear at Red Bull
Cracks did appear in the Red Bull implacable facade at the Australian Grand Prix. Verstappen struggled and failed to top any session in Melbourne, with the exception of Q3 where he claimed pole position. Whatever was the problem with the right rear brake on the RB20, whether faulty manufacturing or assembly, it indicates a chink of weakness in the all reliable Red Bull machine.
Remarkably this was the first mechanical failure on Verstappen’s car for two years since the 2022 F1 event down under. It was plain to see the Dutch driver has lost none of his in the moment – ‘heart on the sleeve’ – type responses to such trouble.
Yet a much more important crack in the F1 juggernaut team remains and so does the issue of certain relationships at the heart of the trackside team.
Jos Verstappen called for Christian Horner to leave the team in Bahrain, claiming he was ‘tearing the team apart.’ The pair were seen behind a window having a heated conversation and Max’s father has since not been present at either of the subsequent Grand Prix.
Horner threat to Verstappen
Dr. Helmut Marko suggested he was close to being suspended by Red Bull at the second round this year in Jeddah. Presumably this would be in line with an investigation into who had sent the anonymous email claiming to contain confidential documents from the Red Bull original enquiry.
This then saw Max Verstappen being dragged into the row and the Dutch driver backed his father saying “he doesn’t lie”. Further on the topic of Helmut Marko being forced out of the team, Max dropped significant hints this would force him to consider where his future lies.
Christian Horner then went public with a very clear message to the Verstappen’s and Marko that “no individual is bigger than the team,” confirming he would not force Max to see out his contract until 2028.
With Jos absent from Melbourne, the relationship between Horner, his driver and the Red Bull advisor appeared to be functioning as usual, the unusual happenings were around why the Austrian and Dutch national anthems were not played at the presentation ceremony. But the real test will be if or when Jos returns to Red Bull trackside, given his lack of tact in the dispute this far it could be he who ignites the whole “Max to leave Red Bull” headlines once again.
Marko says Max wouldn’t have won anyway
New team mate for Max
Yet the strength of Horner’s rebuke to the Verstappen camp when threats of Max leaving emerged, suggest a line has been drawn in the sand by Christian and it should not be crossed. Of course the team need contingency plans for the scenario where Max cuts off his nose to bite his face and leaves for Mercedes in the hope they can rise from the ashes with the new 2026 power units.
However, the reality is for this year and next is that it should be someone driving an RB20 which is F1 driver champion. Now in his fourth season as Max team mate, it feels unless Checo delivers something spectacular, his time with the world champions will be done. So to a certain degree the recruitment conundrum us upon Red Bull whether Max stays or goes.
What would be unusual is if Horner and the senior Red Bull management were considering other drivers to race alongside Max but excluded him from the conversation. Heading towards being a quadruple world champion has earned Max the right to be part of the conversation about his future team mate.
Yet having consistently refused to state he fully supported Christian Horner during the ongoing Red Bull saga, may have seen restricted some of Max’s birthrights. Even worse, there are certain drivers Max would detest if they became team mates, and recruiting someone who fits this profile would re-enforce the message, “no individual is bigger than the team.”
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Horner “big intentions” for Alonso
Red Bull recruiting Fernando Alonso makes a lot of sense from two perspectives. Firstly if Max decides to bugger off last minute the team have already recruited a world champion replacement who in this scenario would replace him and get another team mate.
Should Max stay, Alonso would not be high on his list of favoured team mates. Fernando is a disruptor and Max for now has the team dancing to his tune. Yet as a driver pairing Max and Fernando would excite F1 fans around the world as the Spaniard pulls out all the stops for one last championship run.
Reports now from Sky Germany claim Christian Horner has “big intentions” to lure Fernando from Aston Martin according to Ralph Schumacher.
“The team is thinking about an alternative, and there are now completely new rumours,” he said. “Christian Horner has always been a very, very big fan of Fernando Alonso.
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“Apparently there are big intentions in the background to bring him into the cockpit next year to have another strong driver if Max Verstappen leaves the team. If Alonso were to get to Red Bull at the end of his career, and in a car with which he can win, he would obviously want that.”
Yet Schumacher overlooks the win-win of recruiting Alonso regardless – whether to drive alongside or replace Max Verstappen. Alonso would presumably even forgo a prize two year deal for just one season in a car capable of winning races and titles.
Schumacher is impressed with Alonso’s current form despite conversations about age creeping in. “You saw what Alonso did again at the weekend, how fast he was, how he prevented George Russell from overtaking him, I think he knows what he wants and he would fit in well.”
If Christian Horner wants to reassert his authority in one swoop, recruiting Fernando Alonso would say it all. Even if the RB21 is all dominant, Alonso against Verstappen in the same machinery would be epic.
Spanish media slam Hamilton and Ferrari hierarchy
If Formula One appeared relatively dull in 2023, its all change for the new season. For the first time in the history of the sport all the drivers at the final Grand Prix were retained by their respective teams for this year. The 2023 silly season was short lived as even the ‘at risk’ Yukli Tsunoda had a contract extension announced at his home race in Suzuka.
Lewis Hamilton committed his foreseeable future signing a new deal with Mercedes, though clearly given his recent announcement, it was not the one he had hoped for to end his career with the silver arrows. The seven times champion is off to Ferrari replacing the only non-Red Bull driver to win a Grand Prix in over a year…. READ MORE
