After a dominant show of performance which saw Max Verstappen win the opening round of the Formula One season in Bahrain by over 25 seconds to the next non-Red Bull driver, Carlos Sainz, the talk has returned to the margins by which Red Bull Racing will claim both championships in 2024.

Prior to his retirement from the team principal role of the Red Bull junior team, Franz Tost made the flippant prediction that the senior team would break record again this year wining all 24 races. Today Dr. Helmut Marko was asked whether this was possible and he replied: “Ah, go [away]. We saw last year that can’t work. You’re sensational on the track and then comes Singapore, where we have no chance.”

 

 

 

A strange ‘kiss and tell’

Yet of course the media focus has been diverted from the racing by the Christian Horner saga which has dominated the media. The Red Bull boss was cleared of accusations that he was “controlling and inappropriate” towards a female colleague yet a day later an anonymous email was sent to 149 senior F1 personnel claiming to contain salacious documentation gather during the investigation carried out by an independent barrister.

Bizarrely the mainstream media initially obsessed over the content but initially failed to see the elephant in the room. The big question which needed addressing was who was trying to bring down F1’s longest standing team principal.

As TJ13 has suggested previously, the sting didn’t look like the usual kiss and tell where the alleged victim’s identity becomes known quickly for either financial or publicity reasons. So it was highly unlikely it was the female who group emailed the great and good in the paddock in an attempt to embarrass Honer and create negative publicity for Red Bull who0 may then decided enough is enough.

What has become clear is there is trouble at the top of th Red Bull Racing parent company based in Austria. Since the death of founder Didi Mateschitz son now owns the 49% shareholding and the right to appoint a certain number of board members who are close to him and will fight his corner. 

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Horner resists corporate interference

The Thai family who co-founded the energy drinks empire still own 51% and have a de facto veto over any action Mark Mateschitz may wish to enact.

It has been reported that Mateschitz junior wants to centralise the decision making for Red Bull Racing in Saltzberg, something Christian Horner has resisted vigorously claiming the devolved management in Milton Keynes is one of the big reasons why the team has been successful. 

Competitors like Alpine whose day to day management is overseen by the corporate Renault board, struggle to be as nimble footed as RBR and decision making often becomes political.

Horner saw off the Porsche approach who wished to buy 50% of RBR and again include a corporate element to day to day decision making. At the time the Red Bull boss explained, “During the discussion process it became clear that there was a strategic non-alignment.”

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The plan to ditch Horner

Specifically he spoke of the strength of Red Bull “as an independent team” and praised Porsche as “a great brand, but the DNA is quite different.”

Clearly the same principles apply to the Red Bull parent company’s corporate board’s intention to instigate more ‘interference’ which would also change the DNA of the F1 team and make the decision making process more complicated.

This has obviously irritated Mateschitz junior who has reportedly suggested Horner and his £8m a year salary are too expensive and even that someone more junior could manage the team.

One of the new Red Bull GmbH director’s promoted by the deceased entrepreneur’s son previously was in charge of another sporting entity as CEO of FC Leipzig who compete in the German Bundesliga. Oliver Minztlaff is now CEO of Red Bull Corporate projects under which the F1 team sits and reports suggests he is the axeman appointed to cut off Christian Horner’s head.

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Showdown in Jeddah expected

Minztlaff appears to have recruited Max Verstappen’s father to his cause given the outburst from Jos following his son’s victory in Bahrain calling for Horner to go. “There is tension here while he remains in position,” said Jos. “The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on like this.

This was almost immediately denied by RBR who issued a statement to that effect and now it appears Jos Verstappen is not welcome in the team’s garage given he will not be in attendance in Saudi Arabia.

The scene is now set for a dramatic showdown at this weekend’s Saudi Grand Prix and again the player’s seeking Horner’s downfall will make their move. Thai majority shareholder Chalerm Yoovidhya, is throwing his weight and veto behind Horner remaining in charge of Red Bull’s most successful marketing tool, but now Bild reports the Austrian hatchet man Oliver “Mintlaff is expected in Saudi Arabia this weekend.”

Given Minztlaff’s usual low profile any media attention he courts will be a clear indication of his desire to provoke the Horner situation even further.

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Horner led Red Bull F1 buyout

As TJ13 reported yesterday, it is believed that Christian Horner as been attempting to buy out the F1 team from Red Bull GmbH. While the Thai majority shareholders may look favourably upon the bid from a British finance consortium headed by Horner, the Austrian’s a allegedly furious and want to discredit the Red Bull team boss.

The media were briefed last weekend that Horner may be charged by the FIA for bringing the sport into disrepute, though a spokesperson stated their were powerless to act because no complaint had been made to then. Even Jos Verstappen’s loud mouthed outburst does not constitute a charge of “disrepute” because the matter is no one of internal civil war in the Reed Bull parent company.

What Mintzlaff thinks he can achieve by being seen in the Saudi paddock is uncertain, given the kitchen sink and bad publicity has so far washed away from Christian Horner like water off a ducks back.

Chalerm Yoovidhya was surprisingly present last week in Bahrain and notably pictured with Christian Horner on the grid before lights out. It seems if he decides to sell the F1 team to Horner and his consortium, there’s little Mintzlaff and Mateschitz junior can do other than rabble raise.

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