Liam Lawson heads to the Goodwood Festival of Speed this week comfortable that he is a Racing Bull’s F1 driver and not in the sister Red Bull Racing team. Although the breaking story this week has been the ‘sacking’ of Team Principal Christian Horner, should we really be surprised?
Arguably the team has been in a downward trajectory for some time, and it doesn’t look like it is going to stop. We have the death of Red Bull GmbH co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz in October 2022 marking a shift in the management of the enterprise.
Horner was subject to an employment investigation in February 2024. Although cleared of any impropriety it didn’t look good. This was followed by key F1 designer Adrian Newey announcing his departure from the team and then later that year more top brass leaving the team and the loss of the important Constructor’s Championship to McLaren.
While the focus this week has been on Horner’s sacking. Let’s not forget that Paul Smith, Red Bull’s Group Director of Communications, as well as Oliver Hughes, Red Bull’s Chief Marketing Officer, have been placed on gardening leave at the same time.
Why now, leading up to the Belgium Grand Prix and the spring break? Will we see the confirmation of Max Verstappen leaving the team at the end of the season? This could be catastrophic for a team that has clearly been focused on one driver with a procession of teammates floundering in the mid-field.
The answers are not before us although time will undoubtedly reveal the reasoning.
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