Last Updated on January 29 2025, 12:23 pm

Having battled tooth and nail to win the 2021 drivers’ title with Max Verstappen against Lewis Hamilton in a superior Mercedes F1 car, Red Bull looked to be entering another golden era like their first with Sebastian Vettel.

With Red Bull the energy drinks company buying the ailing Jaguar F1 programme in 2004, the Red Bull racing team was formed and first competed during the 2005 season. Come 2010 and an FIA regulation change, Newey and the design team in Milton Keynes hit their marks and delivered four consecutive team and driver titles between 2010-2013.

Then came the long winter of Mercedes dominance which Red Bull finally overturned come the introduction of the ground effect F1 cars in 2022. Even the most experienced F1 observers believed the second Milton Keynes dynasty was set until 2026. 

 

 

 

Red Bull juniors were not ready

Yet the master plan faltered last year as Verstappen eventually claimed the drivers championship with relative ease, but the team lost their world championship crown to the impressive McLaren whose last team trophy was back in 1998.

However, for many it appeared as though Horner et al. were happy to lose the constructors title given the tight restrictions on aero testing time the team has suffered whilst being number one in the championship. Red Bull as the third placed team in 2024 now have around 15% more Ewing tunnel and CFD rime allowed, and with the all new 2026 cars being developed this year, this might prove to be crucial.

However the reality, behind the Red Bull decision to cling to Perez and in effect hand over their team title to McLaren, was the fact that their lack of faith in Isack Hadjar to step up mid-season to the V-CARB team.

Clearly Tsunoda who has been placed with the Red Bull teams by Honda is in his last year either the Red bull junior team as the Japanese power unit supplier is moving to Aston Martin come this time net year, which leaves something of a hole in the teams’ long term driver line up plans.

Russell/Verstappen feud latest

 

 

 

Verstappen unsettled over Red Bull crisis

Of course Red Bull had to endure the saga of their team boss being accused by a female employee of “inappropriate behaviour.”  During the time it took to exonerate Horner completely, Max Verstappen’s future believed to run until 2028 came into question.

The world champion implied that should Dr. Helmut Marko leave the team, he would have to consider his position, and this created something of a “where’s Verstappen” going to go fever in the F1 paddock?

With Ferrari and McLaren committed to their driver lineup through genuine multi-year deals, the only real option proved to be Mercedes. Toto Wolff was transparent in his wish to sign the now quadruple world champion, even offering Dr. Helmut Marko Niki Lauda’s old role.

Of course it would have been remiss of Christian Horner had he not done some eventuality planning and now it comes to light that the Red Bull boss did attempt to mitigate a potential crisis position of losing his star driver.

Hamilton gets agreement to test last year’s Ferrari

 

 

 

Horner looking for a back up plan

F1 veteran writer for MotorSportMagazine, Mark Hughes now reports he saw the Red Bull boss visiting Aston Martin’s hospitality venue at the final race of last year’s campaign Abu Dhabi.

Hughes dismisses the meeting as being related to Adrian Newey, given his start date with the Silverstone based team was set and remains unchanged. Of course there is the transfer of Honda employees to consider, but this would be a matter for Honda and Aston to resolve and should not require input from the Red Bull team boss.

Hughes believes the recent revelation that Newey does not want Lance Stroll driving his all new 2026 F1 car, together with concerns about Fernando Alonso’s age, may now shed more light on the Horner meeting with Aston Martin in Abu Dhabi.

Reports have circulated on and off, thatLawrence Stroll’s next big acquisition after Adrian Newey is to be Max Verstappen. The Canadian billionaire is believed to be prepared to break the bank in a reported $1bn package to accommodate this and these may well have been the negotiations Horner was attending in Abu Dhabi.

2025 Mercedes F1 contract intrigue

 

 

 

Verstappen/Alonso switch deal

After all if Red Bull are to lose their star driver who is contracted for another three years beyond this, Horner  may as well call in the huge breach of contract penalties due as compensation for their loss.

Hughes suggests there is a deal on the table which remarkably would see Alonso switch to Red Bull racing in 2026 given the team minus Verstappen looks very low on experience.

Liam Lawson with either have stepped up by the end of this year and be worthy of his race seat in a top four team, or he too will tread the path well trodden by the likes of Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly in recent times. Both of whom had brief spells at Red Bull Racing before being released.

Whilst the paddock consensus appears to be Aston Martin would be the only likely destination should Verstappen to decide to leave Red Bull, the matter remains for now highly speculative.

Schumacher swipe at Damon Hill following Michael snub

 

 

 

Money does not guarantee F1 success

Verstappen’s camp have denied they’ve received a billion dollar offer, yet of course should the world champion ;leave three years before his contract expires, Red Bull would be looking for compensation for loss of their star driver, which itself be likely to run into the hundreds of millions.

Further, the success of an F1 start up team has never in F1 history seen them rise so quickly to the top of the pile and Red Bull’s technical abilities have been proven for long periods of time to be second to none.

To this end even the massive project of building their own power unit for 2026, for Red Bull it becomes eminently achievable. It would appear sensible for Max to bide his time until the new regulations have revealed which team is in is fact top of the pile come the end of 2026.

Aston Martin have been doing all the right things to climb the F1 mountain and compete at the top. $200m new facilities at Silverstone and a state of the art wind tunnel coming on stream this year all bode well for the future of the Silverstone based team.

Yet as Ferrari have proved over the past two decades, F1 success is no longer about just piling on the spend and Aston Martin are yet to prove they can deliver on the massive investment Lawrence Stroll has delivered for the team.

Lawson doubt, Tsunoda ready to step up

 

 

 

Wolff’s confidence in Antonelli uncertain, as plan B emerges

Mercedes AMG F1 and Lewis Hamilton’s relationship will for now sit in the annuls of F1 history as themes successful pairing of its kind in the history of the sport. The British driver contributed significantly towards the teams shock and awe eight successive constructors titles with the all conquering Mercedes V6 hybrid turbo.

In return Mercedes handed Lewis the golden opportunity to overtake Michael Schumacher and make history himself with eight F1 driver titles. Yet in 2016, Hamilton allowed his team mate Nico Rosberg to get inside his head and one of those coveted titles was gone.

Then in 2021, despite the monumental efforts of the team to see Hamilton home to the Schumacher record breaking title, the team made a major error in the final race in Abu Dhabi by choosing track position over fresh tyres when a late safety car was deployed by race control. And the rest is history… READ MORE