organic wrote: ↑26 Apr 2024, 17:35
Indeed. With red bull's decision to build their own PU from scratch, it made Max's options seem like Ferrari, AMR and Mercedes. Maybe Max would've stayed to see if RB could do something with RBPT, but the power struggle maybe just accelerated his inevitable departure.
Ferrari is now off the table and AMR seem to be persisting with Stroll so Merc seems obvious to me
To be fair, RB did put a lot of effort into making a deal with Porsche, but Porsche was unrealistic with their expectations. You can't sit at the table with arguably the most competent team at the time and expect them to let you de facto take control over the operation.
With all that, I fully support the decision to go it alone. The problem? Marko and Jos started blaming Horner for the failed deal. Honda was also not completely sure they will continue in F1 past 2025 iirc, I'd also be frustrated at their indecisiveness and seek a support-role partner for RBPT.
Painfull short term, but will bear fruit long term. Not exactly attractive to Marko and Verstappens, who are focused on their own success of course. As for Newey, he'd be able to continue for a while for sure and RB did start reducing their dependancy on him as a part of long term strategy obviously. However, politics and bad atmosphere in the team alienated him and some people say neither Wache nor Balbo are enjoying things and might also leave soon.
Before people start acussing Horner for everything, they should understand it takes two to tango. Marko and Verstappen short term vision would leave the team vulnerable and dependable long term. They then proceeded to introduce the clause behind Horner's back. Honestly, that was a very dishonest move for people who claim moral high ground...If you don't agree with a big strategical decision, just walk away without a fuss instead of "whistleblowing" internal affairs and leaving the whole Red Bull group exposed to court of public opinion