Last Updated on February 10 2024, 4:00 pm

Truly the 2024 Formula One season is off with a bang without even a car hitting the track in anger. The traditional ‘slow news season’ during the winter months when the teams hunker down finalising their new racing challengers erupted into life with the announcement that the sport’s commercial rights holders were again going to war with the FIA.

Despite being given the green light to become the eleventh team on the grid, Andretti F1 were rejected last week by FOM – which is headed up by ex-Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali – leaving another battle to be fought over the future of who controls the entry list to the sport.

 

 

 

 

F1 media frenzy ensues

Before the F1 news outlets had completed their copy on the matter, Lewis Hamilton then announced he was leaving Mercedes for Ferrari next year. This ‘divorce’ came about despite the seven times world champion spending the best part of the 2023 season negotiating a new deal with the team which had brought him almost all of the glory he has gained during his sixteen years in Formula One.

Of course now the dust has settled its clear Hamilton did not achieve his desired goals during those contract deliberations and as Toto Wolff intimated, he chose the worst possible time to wreak revenge on his F1 Mercedes life long family.

Hamilton expressed a tinge of resentment at the big reveal of his new two year deal with Mercedes when he commented that this would not be his last deal to drive in Formula One. Prior to this Lewis’ management team had leaked the details of a proposed arrangement which wold see Lewis become an ambassador for Mercedes in a deal that would last a decade. 

This was rejected by the main board in Stuttgart and even the five year deal rumoured to be on the table also failed to materialise.

Wolff questions timing of Hamilton announcement

 

 

 

Horner accused

As if this was not enough F1 off track drama for 24 hours then reports began to appear that Christian Horner was being pressed to step down from his role as team principal for alleged misdemeanours with a member of the Red Bull Racing team’s staff.

Horner has been the linchpin for the ambitious young F1 team’s assault on the establishment since the founder of the energy drinks empire Didi Mateschitch recruited him having bought the hapless Jaguar from Ford.

The Red Bull team principal then persuaded Adrian Newey to leave his unhappy home at McLaren, where the matrix management system restricted his artistry, and join Red Bull Racing with the result that the guru car designer has become the greatest ever in the history of the sport.

Under Horner’s leadership Red Bull are now just 13 race wins away from being the third most successful F1 team of all time. Despite having joined the sport 55 years after Ferrari’s debut the team from Milton Keynes is approaching half the total of the Maranello GP victories in less than a third of the number of races entered.

Andretti decision creates chaos

 

 

 

F1 “aggressive management” personified

Christian has managed thousands of people during his 25 years as head of the Red Bull team and as everyone knows the competitive nature of the sport is not a place for shy or retiring violets. There are bound to have been many employees who joined the world champions hoping for a glamorous working life but failed to cope with the pace and intensity required to work in the industry.

No team can carry even a single member who is not fully committed to the cause and any boss hoping for success on the track must run a tight ship. At times this may appear to be ruthless as management must extract every last ounce of performance from every last corner of the organisation and this will include telling certain individuals to shape up or ship out.

Guenther Steiner has demonstrated over the years that in F1 no one can hide and his management style is openly confrontational. The Italian team boss came under fire for his handling of Mick Schumacher on numerous occasions. One such instance saw the young German driver bin his car on a slow lap at Suzuka costing the Haas f1 team a whopping $700,000. Steiner was incandescent.

“It happened on the fucking in-lap! On the in-lap! Sure, it was very wet out there on the track, but nobody else managed to write off a car while they were driving back to the pits.

“I cannot have a driver who I am not confident can take a car around safely on a slow lap. It’s just fucking ridiculous.”

Mercedes close ranks and back Russell “the leader”

 

 

 

Decades of stability lost in a year

For now a quarter of a century the Red Bull Racing organisation has been a relative model of stability in a sport where ever shifting sands see even the greatest stars come and go on a whim. This is no means a small part of the reason for their success and with their founder as the final arbiter in all matters, the firm foundation existed for the steadfastness to continue.

But with passing of Mateschitz, a new order has come to the top of the Austrian based empire and in less than 18 months cracks within its unity have become increasingly apparent.

Marko and Horner were at loggerheads over the recruitment of Nyck de Vries, something the Red Bull advisor admitted six months ago. Rumours abounded that Dr. Marko was being ousted which all came to nought as his contract was renewed last month until the end of 2026.

Following the death of Didi, the new boss of the Austrian based parent group was appointed following years as the head of football club RB Leipzig. Oliver Mintzlaff (CEO Corporate Projects and New Investments) now manages the remit of Red Bull’s sporting endeavours and reports suggest he has come into conflict with his F1 team’s principal.

Team boss demands reasons for Hamilton switch

 

 

 

The “leak” was shockingly transparent

The exact details of this are mere speculation. Some have suggested Horner has launched a power grab while others believe Mintzlaff seeks the glory and publicity of heading up a Formula One team.

Whatever the truth is, Christian Horner is clearing suffering a “stitch up” job from within the energy drinks empire. The very nature of the leak of his alleged misdemeanours are testament to this.

Any employee with a complaint being properly processed by an organisation would be under a gag clause restricting them from making public the nature of any claim. Breach of this would prejudice their position and it makes no sense that the reports of Horner’s ‘inappropriate’ behaviour should have been made public from that source.

Further, an organisation dealing with such a potential explosive story would also go to great lengths to prevent the matter being leaked prior to its conclusion. Unless of course such a leak suited the agenda of this controlling the investigative process.

Sainz breaks silence on ferrari contract turned down

 

 

 

Predictable victim

Death by a thousand cuts and public humiliation could easily force someone less strong willed than Horner to walk away from the mess. Yet Christian is defiant and taking on his accusers unbowed.

Without belittled the act of bullying, the very nature of the allegations reek of a “stitch up job”. At first there were tales of inappropriate texts or pictures being sent, but these quickly faded away as the official F1 press fell into line and supported the notion of an “over aggressive or controlling management style.”

This of course is suggested to have been the suffering of the predictable victim type, a poor and helpless female employee at the hands of a middle age white man with power.

The news having ‘broken’ the Red Bull holding company issued a bland statement suggesting the matter would be resolved quickly and an interview was taking place with Christian Horner yesterday. This together with more ‘leaked’ reports it had been suggested that Horner stand down until cleared had just one clear implication – He was guilty.

F1 Audi project stumbles again

 

 

 

Death by a thousand cuts

Yet anyone with a mere intern’s experience of HR matters would know the leaked allegations could never be cleared up in such a short time. Yet the F1 journo’s fed off the crumbs from the ‘confidential briefings’ writing a narrative all adding to the public embarrassment of Horner. 

Now the establishment story has moved to sketch history as, “Horner cannot surely survive”, despite there being nothing known of the actual accusation or the background of the individual making the claims.

The inevitable was finally reported by Sky Sports after a hearing between Horner and an independent barrister lasting supposedly eight hours. An “informed source” cautioned there might not be any outcome until after the scheduled car launch next Thursday, with the barrister possibly needing to carry out further hearings.

Of course this will run past the launch of the Red Bull Racing new 2024 challenger where Horner, Newey et al will al be present. In normal times the scrutiny at this annual event would be over the new details of the racing prototype machine, but this will be lost in the cacophony of babble created by Horner’s accusers.

Details of Red Bull offer to Albon

 

 

 

Thai owners must step up

The result of this public attack on Christian Horner’s reputation could go either way and it will indicate who has control of the energy drinks empire. 

Little reported is the fact the Thai partners who founded Red Bull energy drinks with Mateschitz have a controlling interest. On the whole the family are quiet and private folk, but it is time for them to step up and publicly support the man who has in no small part made their brand a global name.

All the investment in extreme sports and dare devil flying machines is but a drop in the ocean when compared to the golden cow F1 team which has give the Red Bull name its global fame and fortune. To lose or sack Christian Horner will strip away the team and the brand’s greatest asset – stability as depicted by the years of Mateschitz rule. 

Rumours linking senior Red Bull figure with Ferrari

 

 

 

Red Bull Racing could disintegrate

Surely should Christian Horner leave RBR in such controversial circumstances there will be a throng of his dedicated employees who have benefited from his leadership and the team’s success who will become disillusioned and eventually leave for pastures new.

This “stitch up job” is as transparent as it is woefully couched. Suggesting Christian Horner is “controlling” merely affords him the credit he deserves when comparing the RBR team to others which are clearly ‘out of control’ and lacking leadership.

It appears the hope was by making this ridiculous accusation public, powers that be hoped Horner would walk away. Clearly they knew him not and the inevitable outcome now must be that some accommodation will have to be reached where all parties can walk away with their heads held high.

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