For a company that is such a PR machine, Red Bull has tied itself up in knots in recent weeks.
The company’s sporting CEO, Oliver Mintzlaff, will be the latest to show his hand with a supposed public backing at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend for the Formula One team’s principal Christian Horner, despite clear fractures in the pair’s relationship.
On the surface, the message in Jeddah — as it was in Bahrain last weekend — is of a united team all focused on winning. The latter may be true, but the divisions remain the same and show few signs of coming back together.
Red Bull may have hoped Max Verstappen would have used nine minutes in front of the F1 press last night to back Horner.
Again, he shied away from doing anything of the sort, adding further fuel to the fire by stating of his father, Jos, “he is not a liar”. It was the most notable thing he said, speaking for the first time since his father suggested Horner was the one to blame for the tension at the top of a winning machine and things would be torn apart if he stayed at the helm.
Verstappen Sr looks to have played his final card in the wake of his son’s dominant win in Bahrain, which ended up being the secondary story to a remarkable opening weekend to the 2024 season. And the hope at Red Bull is that his absence this weekend to compete in a rally back at home will cool some hot-headedness within their ranks.
It begs the question: how does the team move on? Fractures in F1 and within teams are nothing new, but rarely has a spat been so public and so ugly.
Verstappen made two things very clear yesterday: that he is on his dad’s side in this one; and that the former F1 driver will still be attending grands prix this season and beyond.
“We’re a team,” said the three-time world champion. “It’s me, my dad and Raymond [Vermeulen, his manager] all together, and that will always be like that. I don’t see myself in F1 without them by my side.”
The message to Red Bull was clear: leave my dad alone if you want me to stay. And why wouldn’t they? Verstappen is clearly the best driver currently on the grid.
As for taking sides, he added: “From my side, it doesn’t matter being on one side or the other side. Of course, as the son of my dad, it would be weird to be on a different side. I just want to focus on the performance-side of things and have less talk about what is happening outside of the track.”
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The suggestion is Verstappen has been the peacekeeper in all this. While dad vents and rages to anyone that will listen, instead he has asked for calmer surroundings to allow him to do his job. He fully understands that relations are strained, but that the warring factions can still co-exist for the good of the team.
Despite the backing of owners and board members, Horner’s position is not as strong as it once was, but there is no suggestion he is set for the axe any time soon.
After all, he has overseen a remarkable run of success since taking the helm of the team nearly two decades ago. Barring the appearance of any fresh revelations, Red Bull’s hierarchy can feel safe in the knowledge that come Saturday in Jeddah, normal service can resume and it can get its PR machine back on track with coverage devoid of WhatsApp messages, internal investigations and infighting.