Despite the fact that Red Bull swept Bahrain with a double in the first race of the 2024 World Cup, that Max Verstappen took 25 seconds off Carlos Sainz's Ferrari and that the superiority of the red buffalo over the competition suggests a placid championship towards fourth consecutive title for the Dutchman, the Milton Keynes team is a powder keg. Civil war is coming at Red Bull.
The trigger for the crisis that has erupted in the energy team was the accusation of alleged “inappropriate behavior” by Christian Horner (50) with a team employee. After an internal investigation, last Wednesday, two days before the start of the Bahrain GP, Red Bull announced that its team director was acquitted and that he remained in office.
Far from closing the matter and appeasing the team, the conflict intensified on Thursday night during the second free practice session in Bahrain: two anonymous emails reached around 100 recipients, including senior officials of the big circus such as president of the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of Formula 1, Stefano Domenicali, as well as team directors and media. These emails included a dossier with 79 files, under the striking claim: "Following Red Bull's recent investigation and statements, you will be interested in seeing the attached material."
Material that would compromise Horner due to the appearance of private WhatsApp messages and images that the team director had sent to the employee. Some messages that would be part of Red Bull's internal investigation, and that would be compromising for the Englishman, according to some media outlets.
“I can't sleep, can I call you?” Horner reportedly asked the employee who reported the inappropriate behavior in one of the messages. In another, the team director reportedly asked for photos of her and the woman replied: “Your wife wouldn't be so happy.” Horner's wife is former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, with whom she walked hand in hand through Sajir's paddock on Saturday.
While the FIA and F1 verify the veracity of the documents and cell phone screenshots, the confrontation spreads like wildfire in Red Bull, as someone has tried to discredit and sink Horner's public figure. Only people with notoriety in Red Bull could have access to that dossier – from the team's internal investigation. The rumors quickly pointed towards an issuer: Jos Verstappen, the father of the three-time champion, who is known to have a bad relationship with Horner due to several disagreements. Horner's entourage points to him as the "leaker" of what has already been dubbed the "Horner Leaks."
Tension escalated on Saturday night in Bahrain after Max's overwhelming victory in Sajir. His father, a typically unrestrained guy, let his hair down in The Daily Mail: “There is tension here as long as he [Horner] remains in his position. The team is in danger of disintegrating, it cannot continue like this, it is going to explode. "He's playing the victim, when he's the one causing the problems."
A full-fledged bomb that showed the fragmentation in the team, and that the Verstappens are on the side that wants to force the departure of Horner, whose continuity in the team caused division and controversy. In fact, according to the German press, the CEO of Red Bull GmbH, Oliver Mintzlaff, was “horrified by Horner's behavior” and had already made the decision to fire him; he even had the press release prepared. But someone stopped him.
But is this war a matter of philias and phobias between Jos Verstappen and Christian Horner? As can be deduced from the intricate underlying interests, that would only be the crater of the volcano that has erupted.
There are two theories that would explain the origin of the magma that boils in the bowels of Red Bull: one, the internal war between two factions for control and influence in the energy drink company, on the one hand, the Austrian part of the society ( after the death of Dietrich Mateschitz in October 2022) and, on the other, its Thai majority owner, Chalerm Yoovidhya, who on Saturday in Bahrain showed his unconditional support for Horner and his wife.
And the second, more far-fetched, is a power struggle that refers to economic interests in relation to the contracts of the team's managers: it is estimated that high-ranking personnel - among them Adrian Newey - have clauses linked to continuity or the departure of the English director, whose presence was considered key to giving security to senior officials when they signed. It is speculated, according to this theory, that Max Verstappen – with a contract until 2028 – would have an exit clause linked to that of Horner. If the Dutchman wanted to leave or improve his contract, Horner's goodbye could free him as soon as he would be a free agent.
A theory that grew like foam on Saturday when Jos Verstappen was seen meeting in the Bahrain paddock with Toto Wolff, the boss of Mercedes, who is looking for a replacement for Lewis Hamilton for next year. The star's team was already interested in the Dutch prodigy in the lower categories.
Whatever it is, Jos Verstappen's crack at Horner and the leak of the compromising documents make it impossible for everything to remain the same at Red Bull without anything moving. Even in a world as conservative as F-1.
