by To understand the root cause of the internal war at Red Bull, it is necessary to go back to October 2022; until the death of Dietrich Mateschitz, the founding father of the team.
Because of Mateschitz’s death, and the power vacuum that created, we have what we see today; with the vicious fight between team principal Christian Horner on one side, and Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s octogenarian motorsport consultant, and Jos Verstappen, father of three-time world champion Max Verstappen, on the other.
For years, Mateschitz was in charge. Although he only owned 49 percent of the Red Bull empire, compared to the Thais’ 51 percent, he was in fact the main man and his word was final. The race team was his baby. Mateschitz’s friend and confidant Marko was the intermediary between Horner and Salzburg.
After his death, Red Bull GmbH created a new management structure, with three chief executives effectively running the business. The sports side fell to Oliver Mintzlaff. But almost immediately cracks began to appear in the previously strong working relationship between Milton Keynes and Austria.
There was tension over a potential partnership with Porsche, which would have given the German manufacturer a 50 percent stake in the team. Horner was against it, as was Marko. Then there was tension over the title sponsorship of Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri over the Visa and Hugo brands.
From the outside looking in, the relationship with Marko began to deteriorate in 2023. Sources suggest that the Austrian was becoming more redundant without his friend Mateschitz.
But things went sour after Marko blamed Sergio Perez’s fluctuating form last season on his “cultural heritage”. Marko was given a written warning by Red Bull Austria and forced to issue a public apology. More importantly, according to those close to him, he felt that Horner did not support him enough in public.
Either way, stories began to emerge of a “power struggle” between Horner and Marko, between Milton Keynes and Austria, with Verstappen and his father Jos rallying behind Marko. Horner was accused of incitement to fire Marko, which he denied.
It is unclear exactly when the “escape clause” was added to Verstappen’s contract – the mysterious addendum that has only recently come to light, which allegedly allowed Verstappen to walk if Marko ever left – but it is believed to have been around this time.
Amazingly, given that he is the team principal and chief executive of Red Bull Racing, it is understood that Horner was unaware of the clause being added. Telegraph Sport was told that Marko added himself, as a director of the company, without the knowledge of anyone from Red Bull Racing or Group. Red Bull declined to comment when asked if this was true.
Either way, with the battle lines drawn, and paranoia starting to creep in, the impetus for the chaos of the past few weeks came. Did Horner’s accuser go to Austria of her own accord to make those allegations of inappropriate behavior against him? Was she encouraged by a third party? That is not yet clear. As does the nature of the relationship between the accused and Verstappen’s father.
Telegraph Sport spoke to the many witnesses who claim to have seen Horner’s accuser being kissed at Red Bull’s post-Abu Dhabi 2021 victory party on board a yacht.
One thing is clear, the allegations against Horner were a possible smoking gun. It was reported that the Austrian faction was keen to get rid of Horner. They thought it would be cut and dry. But they did not take into account Chalerm Yoovidhya, the majority owner of Thai Red Bull (51 percent), supporting the principal of the team and demanding a full investigation.
It remains unclear why Horner has not been suspended at this point. We understand that he was told in early January that a specialist external counsel was being appointed to look into the allegations. Again, it is not clear why the identity of that counsel cannot be shared for the sake of transparency. But what was meant to be an internal investigation soon became a matter of publicity when the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf published the investigation on 5 February.
Who leaked it? That could be part of a secondary investigation which it is now clear is being carried out by Red Bull GmbH. But if the intention was to add public pressure to the private pressure that was already being raised on Horner, it worked.
As the unnamed KC went about its investigation – compiling its 100-plus page report based on more than 60 hours of interviews with multiple witnesses – Horner faced massive media scrutiny, which resurfaced when De Telegraaf published further allegations the following day. Red bull launch season.
Again, it seemed the intention was to humiliate Horner and put additional pressure on Red Bull GmbH.
If there was any doubt that a “dirty war” had been waged, it disappeared the day after parent company Red Bull announced on February 28 that the grievance case against Horner had been dismissed. A huge tranche of flirty, sometimes silly WhatsApp messages, allegedly between Horner and his accuser, was revealed by an anonymous email to journalists and Paddock figures.
Suddenly the battle was being raged out in the open.
We now know that Horner’s accuser has been suspended as a direct result of the investigation. The BBC reports that she was told she had concerns about the accuracy and consistency of her evidence as an explanation.
But by now the investigation was almost secondary to the public battle raging at the top of Red Bull Racing.
Jos Verstappen and Horner had a big row in Bahrain, and Verstappen snr told the Red Bull principal that he knew Horner was suspected of being behind the whistleblowers, which Verstappen snr vehemently denied.
The next day, after Geri and Yoovidhya, Horner’s ex-Spice Girl wife, showed up to support Horner at the season’s opening race, Jos went public with his feelings, asking Horner to quit before he “explodes ” the team.
It was Marko’s turn this week when he suggested on Friday that Red Bull could “suspend” him. Was it a final throw of the dice? Did Marko think Red Bull would get rid of him? Was he trying to trigger the “escape clause” in Verstappen’s contract? That remains to be seen.
Marko turned up in the paddock in Jeddah yesterday, a few hours before the race, side by side with Mintzlaff, announcing that they had had positive talks and that he was waiting afterwards. Considering all we know, it would be a miracle if another twist wasn’t on the horizon.
