With the sacking of Christian Horner, one of the last remaining pantomime villains exited the Formula One paddock. His long standing rivalry with Toto Wolff of Mercedes was born when the Red Bull era of dominance 2010-13 was supplanted by that of Mercedes who invested eye watering sums on their new V6 turbo hybrid power unit.
The rivalry exploded into a personal feud during the intense season of 2021, where Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton went at it hammer and tongues to win the drivers’ championship.
During that infamous year, Christian Horner famously stated in an interview, “I have respect for Toto… but it doesn’t mean I have to like him”. Wolff returned the favour in 2025 when following Horner’s dismissal from Red Bull Wolff admitted he missed his “great enemy” but described him as an “a**hole” who “behaved like a real personality”.
McLaren in fear of Verstappen charge
Horner was replaced by an engineer in Laurent Mekies, who like Andrea Stella – in charge of McLaren – in general keeps his comments to factual issues – which of course is more boring than a good old war of words.
Engineers running F1 teams is something of “a thing” at present and started with the sacking of Netflix giant personality Guenther Steiner. Haas F1 is now run by its previous head of technical matters, Ayo Komatsu.
Yet just as Sky F1 has started to lose its post race show viewers due to the dull nature of the interviews, a war of words has erupted between McLaren and Red Bull. Since the Monza floor upgrade for the RB21 in Monza, the boss of the papaya liveried cars has become increasingly concerned about the charge of Max Verstappen and Red Bull continuing to upgrade their car.
Following Verstappen’s second win in consecutive outings, McLaren’s team principal issued a a stark warning to his team. “I used the capital letters already… We’re talking about Max Verstappen, we’re talking about Red Bull,” said Stella when asked whether Verstappen could be a factor in the driver’s championship.
Stella suggests Red Bull ’26 programme in trouble
He continued with a damning observation of Red Bull’s Monza upgrades. “They were fast in the corners, medium-speed and low-speed corners, fast in the straights, and we know that Max, when he has a competitive car, can deliver strong weekends. Conversely, we also knew that… Baku for us would have been a difficult circuit.”
Following a battling effort from Verstappen last weekend in Mexico, the gap to the championship leader, now Lando Norris, is just 36 points. Despite the Red Bull car never fully realising its potential at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Verstappen demonstrated his magic with another spectacular driver which saw him reignite his 2021 on track battle with Lewis Hamilton over the opening laps.
When questioned about Red Bull continuing to develop their RB21 long after McLaren abandoned their 2025 in season upgrade programme, the McLaren boss responded with a somewhat defensive answer. “The 2026 [McLaren] project would be heavily compromised [had we continued our development this year]. We want to win championships in the future,” said the Italian. He went on to suggest Red Bull were gambling more on this year’s car because they know their 2026 project is not on track.
“I think that when we look at Red Bull, and when we consider some of the complaints they had at the start of the season, perhaps they had more margin to develop efficiently, focusing on 2025, and perhaps they are happier to give up a little bit on 2026 because they might have some other issues for 2026 whereby they say, ‘Let’s focus on ’25,” said Stella.
Update on Red Bull driver decision
Red Bull Mexican upgrades for cooling
Stinging words indeed from the engineer who is the McLaren boss, and the necessary suggestion as to Red Bull’s motives show the senior personnel at Woking are most concerned about their Red Bull rivals. “To win championships in the future, you need to have a competitive car, and I think we have been very considerate in the timing of switching our full resources to 2026,” concluded Stella.
Never one to be backward in coming forward, Dr. Helmut Marko weighed in on the burgeoning war of words coming from McLaren who question Red Bull’s three additional upgrades they brought to Mexico. “The [the engine cover] upgrade mainly targeted cooling efficiency, because of the thinner air here,” Marko explained.
The 82 year old Austrian was asked about the front end reprofiling of the RB21’’s floor. “Yes, but that’s all related, that’s part of the same package with the cooling adjustments.” There were also break inlet changes which also assisted with cooling at a circuit where brakes are a crucial factor.
Mexican GP: Verstappen furious as Norris takes lead of championship
Marko mocks Stella’s Red Bull accusation
Dr. Marko was asked about the comments from McLaren’s team principal and the suggestion their 2026 project was in trouble. The Austrian laughed before replying: “It was the same story in 2021. Toto was really worried that we wouldn’t be competitive in 2022,” he mocked. In 2022 and 2023, Red Bull dominated as the new ground effect car design regulations came into force, despite developing their 2021 car much later than did Mercedes.
“It’s part of our philosophy that whenever the rules change, we work as long as we can to stay competitive,” added Marko. “That was the same for the last three regulation changes. So if they don’t have anything else to worry about, then okay,” the Red Bull advisor concluded.
Mild mannered Red Bull team boss Lauren Mekies joined the fray in defence of his teams decision to sacrifice some of their resources for 2026 to continue their fight this season. “We are doing it this way because we think for us, let alone the other guys, it’s a net gain. We validate our approaches, and hence, we then apply it to 26,” explained the Frenchman.
“If we thought it would compromise it, we would not be doing it. We know there is a price to pay, and we think it’s reasonable, and we think it’s worth it,” concluded the Red Bull boss.
Red Bull’s much bigger aero allowance
There’s another simple reason why Red Bull can afford to use more resources for this season than Mclaren and its due to the regulations which restrict aerodynamic development based on a team’s position in the constructors title race.
Twice a year the table positions decided how much wind tunnel and CFD allowances the teams will be allowed for the next six months. The latest reset was in July when Red Bull were firmly fourth in the constructors’ title race.
Red Bull in fourth place have 21.4% more wind tunnel and computer fluid dynamics allowance than McLaren, and so using this to improve the correlation of the tools between what is conceived and what is finally fitted to the car is no loss to the team at all.
The real story to watch going forward is how Andrea Stella continues with bad mouthing Reed Bull’s 2026 efforts and as Verstappen continues to close in on the McLaren duo, the squeals from the WTC may grow louder.
Piastri mystery leads to conspiracy theories
One race after the summer break, Oscar Piastri was on top of the Formula One world. He had broken the resistance of the current world champion and his team mate’s DNF in Zandvoort left him an almost unassailable 34 points clear of Lando Norris.
Given that McLaren had won twelve of the first fifteen Grand Prix, it was expected this form would continue with both drivers trading 1-2’s to the end of the season,. Meaning without a DNF for Piastri it would be the Australian who claimed his maiden F1 drivers’ championship.
Just four races later and the wheels have fallen from Oscar’s racing wagon. Crashes and false starts in Baku began his demise then in Singapore he was dominated by his team mate and failed to make the podium….. READ MORE
A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13, where Andrew oversees editorial standards and contributes to the site’s Formula 1 coverage. A career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media, Andrew trained in investigative journalism and has written for a range of European sports outlets.
At TJ13, Andrew plays a central role in shaping the site’s output, working across breaking news, analysis, and long-form features. Andrew’s responsibilities include fact-checking, refining editorial structure, and ensuring consistency in reporting across a fast-moving news cycle.
Andrew’s work focuses particularly on the intersection of Formula 1 politics, regulation, and team strategy. Andrew closely follows developments involving the FIA, team leadership, and driver market dynamics, helping to provide context behind the sport’s biggest stories.
With experience covering multiple seasons of Formula 1’s modern hybrid era, Andrew has developed a detailed understanding of how regulatory changes and competitive shifts influence the grid. Andrew’s editorial approach prioritises clarity and context, aiming to help readers navigate complex developments within the sport.
In addition to editorial duties, Andrew is particularly interested in how media narratives shape fan perception of Formula 1, and how reporting can balance speed with accuracy in an increasingly digital news environment.
