SHOCK Horner spat with Max opens the door for Wolff – Given their recent dominance in Formula One, Red Bull are a team facing a crisis if paddock folk are to be believed. Despite having a contract which runs until 2028, their star driver is supposedly unhappy with the team over issues both from on and off the track.

Their driver paring is not as well matched as the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren, with Max acing the equipment he is driving, while Sergio Perez is nearly always way off his team mates pace, whether in qualifying or in the race. Charles Leclerc’s win at his home race in Monaco, moved him ahead of Checo into second place.

 

 

 

Red Bull no longer dominant

The Monegasque is just 31 points behind Verstappen having never finished a race this season outside the top four. Verstappen was sixth in Monaco and failed to finish the Australian Grand Prix. Lando Norris came good in Miami with a strategy that waited longer than the others for his first stop and was kindly offered to change his tyres when the safety car was deployed, catapulting him into the lead.

Red Bull and Max have nothing like the lead they had this time last year. Having completed eight rounds Max was 74 points ahead of chaco in P2 and the team had collected whopping 32 points and were 154 ahead of second placed Mercedes. Now the gap to Ferrari behind them is a mere 24 points.

With Lewis Hamilton bailing early on his multi year deal signed with Mercedes last autumn, as the Brit heads towards Maranello, the silver arrows are searching for his replacement. Toto Wolff has made no secret of the fact his number one target wold be Max Verstappen and Mercedes offer the lure that they new power unit could be super dominant again in 2026.

Max is under contract with Red Bull until 2028 but there are clauses which could see him leave the team much earlier than that should certain events transpire. F1-insider, which is close to Dr. Helmut Marko, reports today that Horner and Max clashed behind the scenes at the recent Monaco Grand Prix. Horner allegedly irritated his star driver having revealed in an interview with Sky that Max had made a costly mistake.

The implication was the car was better than the P6 Verstappen could only make in qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton silly propaganda called out by fellow racer

 

 

 

Horner reveals Max driving error

The Red Bull boss explained Max had gone too deep at the first turn, Saint Devote and was forced to abort his final run in Q3. Max remained sixth as those behind him failed to improve enough to change up the order from the first run in that session. Meanwhile in Checo land things were going pear shaped, as the Mexican driver failed to make it out of Q1 and finished the session classified in eighteenth position.

Verstappen allegedly took issue with the fact Horner had chosen to highlight his own mistake publicly rather than the disastrous cock up from Perez. However, Max knows he is the centre of the F1 media attention and the first questions his boss is asked after most races are about how Verstappen has performed. This makes the reported irritation from Max appear petty yet the back drop of events earlier this year now suggests Max is gunning for a fight.

The world champion’s father has been at loggerheads with Horner from the very first race in Bahrain. Jos then called for Christian to stand down from his role as head of the Red Bull Racing team, claiming if he did not, the team would be “torn apart.” Add into the mix at the time Dr. Helmut Marko was under investigation by the Austrian energy drinks board for allegedly leaking confidential conversations from in internal investigation following claims from a female employee of Horner’s inappropriate behaviour. He was cleared of all charges.

Yet Marko revealed prior to the Australian Grand Prix, he may be suspended for the next race something which fired up Max Verstappen’s dander. Marko has mentored Max in his junior racing days and was responsible for getting into the Red Bull junior team before he was even eighteen.

Verstappen slams Red Bull: “Era of dominance gone”

 

 

 

Verstappen defends Marko

Verstappen said: “It’s very important that he stays within the team. If such an important pillar falls away, that’s not good for my situation as well. So, for me, Helmut has to stay, for sure.”

Max claimed that it was Marko and the late Red Bull billionaire who had built Red Bull from the ashes of the jaguar F1 squad, with no mention of Horner who clearly was a significant part of that process.

“He has built this team together with Dietrich from day one, and he’s always been very loyal to the team, to everyone within the team, to make sure that everyone would keep their positions already from back in the day.

“And I think it’s also very important, of course, that you give the man a lot of respect for what he has done. And that comes back also to loyalty, you know, and integrity,” Verstappen concluded.

Brundle: Monaco ‘no outlier, Red Bull in decline’

 

 

 

Max threatens to leave Red Bull

When asked what he wold do were Dr. Marko to leave, Max did not pull his punches implying there were certain scenarios where he would consider leaving his Red Bull family.

Max has also been critical of the team this season, claiming Lewis Hamilton style that they are not listening to him. He has revealed how Red Bull’s simulators have not produced accurate data compared to their cars’ on-track performances over the past two years. Yet the engineers at Red Bull have continually played down Verstappen’s distress having dominated Formula 1.

Now with the handbags at dawn Monaco spat between Max and his team boss, Toto Wolff’s dream of replacing Hamilton with a three or four times world champion have been revived. For the first time in the history of F1 a team are building their own power unit not buying in from a global car manufacturer – and they are Red Bull.

So there is the unknown of whether they can pull this off. Last time new F1 power units were introduced, Mercedes aced the design and won eight consecutive constructor titles, something never seen before. This would be attractive to Max, who of course wants to always be driving the most competitive car in the field.

Marko reveals new red bull problems

 

 

 

Toto Wolff stirring the pot

Further, Toto Wolff has revealed recently that after years of back biting with Marko, he has realised they after all are quite similar. Reports in motorsport.com in March suggested Max had a break clause in his contract that would allow him to drive elsewhere should his mentor Dr. Marko leave the Red bull team.

“We have become much closer,” Wolff said of Marko before the Monaco GP. “Despite the rivalry, there are common values that we stand for. With all the things that have happened in the past few months, we have realised that we think alike.

“It’s less about Max than about the behaviour of some people [at Red Bull] where we think similarly. Let’s put it this way, anything is possible in F1 [regarding them both joining Mercedes].”

Of course all this may be Marko quietly manipulating matters behind the scenes and briefing F1-insider. The purpose? To improve his and Max’s standing in the team and to command certain things change from the way they are now.

Briatore back in F1 with Newey?

 

 

 

Horner says “nobody bigger than the team”

When asked if Max wanted to leave Red Bull, Christian Horner appeared dismissive: “Obviously, a lot is made of this stuff. But we are one team, and nobody is bigger than the team.

“If someone doesn’t want to be in this team, then we’re not going to force anyone, against their will, to be here. It doesn’t matter if it’s a machine operator, a designer or whatever,” which is code for even a world champion driver.

Should Max leave for Mercedes, he will likely burn his bridges with Horner and Red Bull, who have a long running feud with the boss of the silver arrows. So he needs to be sure Mercedes can deliver again with the new power units, but this time they are restricted to the amount they can spend developing it.

Much of Lewis Hamilton’s dominance was based around the most powerful engine in the field, following a reported 1$bn R&D bill paid for by Mercedes. This time the paying field will be level, as manufacturers have limit but equal tech testing time along with other resources for the project.

Hamilton interview: Slams Mercedes and talks of near death

 

 

 

Pirelli radical F1 tyre shakeu

In the good old days of Formula One there were up to thirty three cars starting each weekend and the number of teams was far greater than we have now. Independent wealthy gentleman would buy a customer car and compete along with the mighty German auto manufacturers while the English garagistes were designing and building their own with a squad of around 12 engineers.

Much of the unpredictability of who would win each Grand Prix was due to the unreliability of the cars as the teams prioritised speed over longevity.    Pit stops were made because the fastest way to run a race was not to load the car with fuel so they could complete the race distance without making a refuelling stop… READ MORE