The cut-and-thrust F1 politics at play in Christian Horner and Red Bull’s power struggle

Formula One team bosses come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some take the top job with a résumé bristling in world-class engineering, like ex-Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto or current Williams team principal James Vowles. Some are businessmen at heart: Mercedes’ Toto Wolff and McLaren’s Zak Brown the clearest case-in-points on the current grid. But no matter the background, all of them must quickly master the art of politicking: engaging and thriving in the intricate and detailed politics of the sport. Or else, be swept by the wayside.

In this field, Christian Horner comes out on top. A team principal in 2005 at just 31 years of age, a feat executed by way of a close companionship with ex-F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, 45 years his senior, the Red Bull boss has long been a master at the sport’s dark arts. Increasingly, as he enters 20 years in the sport, Horner has been the great white shark in F1’s “piranha club” – a term coined by ex-McLaren ringmaster Ron Dennis.

Yet for all his spin-doctoring and mind games in showdowns between big bosses and bigger egos – aired most recently on Netflix’s Drive to Survive – it is quarrelling in the background of his own Red Bull team that is the subtext to this week’s controversy. Horner, 50, is fighting for his job after being accused of inappropriate controlling behaviour by a female colleague.

An external lawyer has been appointed by Red Bull Austria – who own the racing team – to investigate. It is believed that is who Horner met with at a secret location in central London to discuss the allegations on Friday. Horner strongly denies the claims and it is very possible a result of the case won’t be announced before Red Bull’s 2024 car launch on Thursday, billed as a celebration of their 20 years in the sport. The new season starts just a fortnight later.

Straight away, it’s important to note that the alleged offences should be examined thoroughly and fairly. Both parties should be heard with an opportunity to have their say, and Horner is innocent until proven otherwise. That – and that alone – should trigger the outcome, whether it be Horner losing his job, a warning, or no action at all.

But rumblings of disunity within Red Bull’s wider and intrinsically complex ecosystem are unavoidable. A power struggle, in spite of the team’s most successful season ever in 2023 with 21 wins from 22 – the most dominant season in F1’s 74-year history. However, success is not always a sign of stability.

The death of team co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz in October 2022 saw Horner lose his closest supporter; the man who trusted this young British upstart with leading Red Bull into the top tier of world motorsport with little more than junior formula success behind him. That first year, 2005, set the tone for the seven drivers’ and six constructors’ world championships to follow.

Horner joined forces with Dr Helmut Marko, a former racer whom he’d bought a second-hand trailer from a few years earlier. Marko was put in charge of Red Bull’s junior programme, as the energy drinks giant later took over Minardi as their sister team, Toro Rosso. Interestingly, Marko is not an employee of Red Bull Racing but rather the overarching company, as he continues his work into his 80s.

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Horner’s second hire was altogether more significant. Carving out a conversation with one of the sport’s most respected car designers, Adrian Newey saw something he rather liked at dinner with Horner in Monaco. With an exciting, bold project and a £10m salary, Horner persuaded Newey to join Red Bull from McLaren. And so the team’s dynamic triumvirate of contrasting tunes was born.

So often pictured together in years since at races across the world, the trio have guided Red Bull to great accomplishments. Either side of Mercedes’ success at the start of the hybrid era, they have been F1’s dominant force. Since Ferrari or McLaren last won the championship, Red Bull have claimed seven titles.

But Mateschitz’s death saw something twist. Marko and Horner clashed – most notably over the hiring of Nyck de Vries for the sister team, with Horner vindicated when the driver was dropped following a poor start last year. Marko has found himself in hot water, too, with an insensitive comment about Sergio Perez’s ethnicity. Despite a year of utter supremacy, 2023 was not plain sailing. Red Bull’s 2022 title, as well, was overshadowed by their breaching of the cost cap.

Now, those rumblings have gone into overdrive. Reports from Dutch media say the relationship between Jos Verstappen – father to Max, the team’s star driver and three-time world champion – and Horner has soured recently. Verstappen Jr is a fiercely loyal person, said to be more closely aligned with his dad and Marko than Horner.

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All of which does not play suitably into Horner’s hands, amid speculation that Red Bull Austria are keen to wrestle back more control to Salzburg from the team’s HQ in Milton Keynes. Their CEO, Oliver Mintzlaff, has for instance been linked with replacing Horner should the 50-year-old depart.

As for Newey, the partnership with Horner is said to be more prosperous. They implicitly trust one another’s judgement despite exuding opposite personalities – Horner vociferous and outspoken, Newey much more introverted – and some outlets have reported that the removal of one means another can also leave.

Even if that isn’t the case, would Newey want to stay without his right-hand man? He has spoken in the past of turning down Ferrari twice and his regret at not working with Lewis Hamilton. Conveniently, the two F1 giants are now joining forces next year.

But the whole in-house soap opera at Red Bull lays bare the complicated cut-and-thrust politics at play in a sport famous for it. Ecclestone and ex-FIA boss Max Mosley were at each other’s throats one day, and best pals the next. F1 and the FIA (the governing body) are not closely aligned nowadays either, given FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s tendency to court controversy. Controversies in the late noughties, such as Spygate and Crashgate, were played out amid the complex web of the sport’s political affairs.

Again, when it comes to the allegations laid against Horner, none of this should matter. The appointment of an external barrister to the case is smart and appropriate in this respect. In theory, it means no internal influence should be projected. But even if Horner makes it to Bahrain on 2 March in charge of the Red Bull juggernaut, he may well be watching the action on track with one eye over his shoulder.