The Power Struggle#

We never quite know what exactly happened internally within Red Bull, but when senior figures within Red Bull started looking elsewhere in the midst of their success, it can go only two ways. Either they got a bigger salary for the offered job or something really unbearable happened internally.

The reason started to surface when Christian Horner faced some huge allegations last year. Despite it being eventually cleared, I think it still shows the clear picture that there are some power struggles going on within Red Bull at the moment. Some people want Horner out, and to go as far as sending an email of his alleged chat just shows the very desperate attempt to knock him out of that job.

And then, Adrian Newey went to Aston Martin. It seems like it’s being linked to Horner’s allegations and that he had some fallout with him. But I don’t think it’s specifically that.

I read this guy’s book, and he’s always been a very good friend of Horner. They’ve been best friends since 2005 and effectively built the team from scratch together. They went through some moments in Red Bull’s downfall at the beginning of the hybrid era.

In fact, Newey was even offered a job elsewhere at Ferrari or Mercedes with some big money involved. Yet Newey was happy enough to stay within Red Bull - or the place he used to call “home” - the team he helped build. I think it’s quite telling that Newey was happy despite the challenges, probably because his role and the structure of the team for him was really comfortable to stay in and tackle those challenges.

So, when he decided to leave Red Bull because he’s sick of the “political battles” within the team, things must’ve gotten really, really bad.

Who is to blame? It’s not that simple, but my gut feeling predominantly lies with the executives. There was a lot of talk that the only backing Horner had was the Thai shareholder, meanwhile the Austrian side (including Helmut Marko) wanted Horner out.

From what I understand, Horner seems to have a lot of power within the team. He’s always very involved and has many roles within the team. That’s just his style of leadership - to have control over a lot of things. And with Newey as the duo, they seem to have built a stability and harmony within the team that hasn’t been seen in many other teams. It was okay under the supervision of Dietrich, but it seems like the chairman thinks differently.

The Change#

Red Bull wants a change of structure. Pushing back Horner from having too much say on things, and relying on a clear structure where people report to higher-ups. It’s similar to the way other F1 teams run, like Mercedes or McLaren, and probably less extreme than Ferrari. Perhaps it’s a proper way of running the team because F1 has never been a lone sport. However, whether it’d work in the Red Bull team or not remains a question. That’s why I said they probably need a lot of time until getting the championship trophy again because it’d surely take some time to adjust to this structure - or even if at all, because this kind of system doesn’t always work for some teams.

Ultimately, Horner and his people are out. While Laurent Mekies became the new team principal of Red Bull Racing. Whether this is a mistake or not remains a question. I would hold myself there before going any further.

What’s next for Horner? Going about this shortly, I think Horner’s CV and achievements can make him go anywhere. It can be other F1 teams, other motorsports teams, in WEC or even MotoGP, I don’t know. There are some talks about Ferrari or Andretti, but you know, in a strange twist, I think he’s better suited for Aston Martin’s F1 Project. Lawrence Stroll probably resembles Dietrich’s style of leadership the most, and how he trusts his man to lead the team gave me an idea that he’d like Horner’s style of leadership more than Ferrari or other teams would. I mean, there’s just absolutely no way Ferrari would let this guy be in charge with his style of leadership. It’ll be a very strange dynamic. Furthermore, his colleague Adrian Newey is there, and I’d trust this duo Adrian Newey and Christian Horner more than anything else in F1.

The Future of Red Bull#

I think it ultimately lies with the talent within the team. This post-Horner era will introduce a new team principal alongside some other new executives that are replacing Horner’s underlings. I’m not very sure how they’ll perform because I don’t know them. But what I know will come is that the dynamic within the team will change a lot. Especially if Max Verstappen decides to exit Red Bull.

After some thinking, you know what? I think if Max Verstappen decided to exit Red Bull for Mercedes or Aston Martin, it would be entirely justified. Red Bull basically has descended into chaos this year, and I’m not sure the regulation reset next year would do them any good at all.

There have been a lot of rumors and predictions about the future engine performance of each team. Mercedes would be the best, Audi and Ferrari are doing well, meanwhile Alpine and RB are in trouble. If that rumor is to be believed, going to Mercedes makes perfect sense for Max.

We, of course, don’t know whether this is even remotely possible or not. There are some big obstacles to get past like contracts and budgets, for which the details were never revealed. There are always assumptions and rumors on the internet like how someone within Max’s management has found a loophole to break the contract, but that always returns to Helmut Marko’s denial that there isn’t any way to break the contract. Rumors always circulate as such and I think there’s no use in us spending too much energy on guessing about the contract, so I’d rather shut up and wait.

Red Bull After Max Verstappen#

Hypothetically for Red Bull though, the very interesting part is how they’d work after Max’s exit. Like, who will replace him? Is it going to be a straight switch with other drivers, say like George Russell, or are they going to promote the juniors either like Isack Hadjar or Liam Lawson? The first option will give them a more likely instant result whilst the second option would give them more stability and probably more developed chemistry. Laurent Mekies has worked with the junior team for a while now so he knows how to manage them.

And then, how will the dynamic of the team develop? This team has become Max Verstappen’s team for quite a while, so what will the team be without him? Assuming they went for a junior team, I think it can go in a very interesting way. Because finally, they will have equal drivers and I’d assume the second seat curse is gone. What’s critical as well is that next year is a totally new regulation, so it presents a great opportunity for Red Bull for a good reset. I can think of Honda in MotoGP as an example, how they became Marc Marquez’s team and how they have evolved or rather devolved back into a normal two-driver team after Marquez’s exit.

Conclusion#

To summarize this blog, I think what happened is quite simple. The absence of Dietrich left power struggles within the team, and that problem caused mayhem within the team that left some senior figures like Jonathan Wheatley and Adrian Newey frustrated and eventually leaving the team at their peak. Horner’s credibility within the team slowly got degraded and that caused frictions which ultimately are visible in on-track performance. The executives finally decided for a change and opted for an almost complete reset of structure for Red Bull Racing starting midway this season. Meanwhile, Verstappen is looking elsewhere because presumably Red Bull isn’t doing great in preparation for the new 2026 regulation.

Only time will tell whether this decision is going to be a successful one or not. But I wish them good luck, because I’ve really liked the team for as long as I can remember. Cheers to the new era of Red Bull Racing.