2025 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[FNTC]

In that leaked farewell speech he says he will "still remain employed by the company", so there is some garden leave period then.

[AeroDynamic]

In that leaked farewell speech he says he will "still remain employed by the company", so there is some garden leave period then.

Sounds like it (even if they want to offer Christian something to do, it won’t be what he wants)

Everyone that knows CH knows he enjoys being front and center of the organisation, the team, the sport. He isn’t built to sit in the shadows and pull strings on puppets.

Awhile back, it was rumoured he was feeling ambitious enough to put together a consortium to buy a piece of the team (maybe even a controlling entity?) he wants to be completely in charge of the team.

I think he sees what Toto Wolff achieved, and wants more than what he started out as: just a team principal, a general that rounds the troops and leads them into battle.. Toto was offered ownership of his team from day 1 and that’s something that Christian probably envied in a number of different ways, which I won’t get into all of em but as a competitor CH is right in his approach to keep the arms of corporate interference away from the team, and let the team be nimble and independent to always make the right decisions. (although in CH’s case, I think he was a little out of his depth with some of his mistakes, like managing the 2nd driver contracts, navigating the future of the team on the engine side, and his aggressive pursuit of more power within the company which ultimately rubbed people the wrong way and left himself alienated.. made enemies.)


Now that he’s gone red bull will never be the same. It was Matechitz project and he gave Horner and Marko all the control they needed to make a very successful f1 team. Marko will retire before long, the team is now well on its way to becoming corporate and having a completely different structure with lots of different people in charge of different things that Horner used to manage himself. All those people will report directly to the corporate side. So, even if Newey stayed he would’ve left along with Horner as he’s made it very clear in interviews that he doesn’t believe a race outfit is at its best when there’s too much politics and corporate control.


If Horner can still bring together a consortium, he, as others have pointed out, might approach alpine / Renault for more than just being a team principal. He’d have to buy the team with backing. Can’t see Ch wanting to work for Flávio and that mess that Renault management is.

[MB_Racer]

I'm sure Max will stay at RB. Why would any other team want all this drama. Not worth it.

Because he is currently the best F1 driver?

And a 4 time world champion?

[FNTC]

Max can pretty much go wherever he wants, any team would be insane to reject him

[Seanspeed]

Max can pretty much go wherever he wants, any team would be insane to reject him

Russell might well be like the 3rd best driver in F1 right now, and a pretty good future F1 champion in the making with a decent enough car. And despite that, Mercedes would seemingly not hesitate in kicking him to the curb if it meant upgrading to Max Verstappen. It's harsh, but also extremely rational. Because Max is an instant upgrade for any team on the grid pretty much by default.

Max has plenty of leverage, even if things aren't looking rosy at Red Bull.

[Watto]

Newey left because of Horner, why is Christian seen as the person who kept the ship on course. He was the one that has led to its downfall.

To be fair I don't think anyone knows exactly why Newey left other than him and perhaps a few close to him. I've seen a lot speculate either way and neither really has much weight. We've had PR leaks against him but again they can be misleading particularly when they came out was it trying to destabilise Horner? Was it a leak from the Austrian side of RB, Or Newey himself? I see a lot of Newey supporters point to his statement when he left RBR but again its just as likely some good PR about breaking their contract and negotiation of gardening leave to point CH in a good light at the time, seen that kinda thing done before. I can seen plenaty of reason he could have left both with and without Horner

“Adrian Newey, regarded as the greatest designer in F1 history, resigned last year.
The accusations against Horner were a central part of Newey's reasons for leaving, along with his dissatisfaction with the team, which he saw as other staff members trying to claim credit for his innovations.”


When the BBC reports this, I give it weight. Given the fact that Newey’s wife was calling out statements from Horner that were minimising Newey’s role in their success, there’s fire where there’s smoke here.

I had forgotten his wife's comments, that I would certainly add some weight to.

The BBC not so much - yes it could very much be true, but also it still reads as a PR leak it achieves support for sacking him - look at the direction. RBR are heading with a lot more corporate input against what RBR had been for years with DM, and the team he went to with Stroll, billionaire that is happy to spend money to get success he has plenty of control personally in where thing go, I am not so sure the current RBR environment would be to his liking either he may well have seen the writing on the wall here too and bailed. But hey this leak certainly keep the parent companies hands clean. I don't doubt there is some truth to the statement where there is smoke there is fire.

Newey left because of Horner, why is Christian seen as the person who kept the ship on course. He was the one that has led to its downfall.

To be fair I don't think anyone knows exactly why Newey left other than him and perhaps a few close to him. I've seen a lot speculate either way and neither really has much weight. We've had PR leaks against him but again they can be misleading particularly when they came out was it trying to destabilise Horner? Was it a leak from the Austrian side of RB, Or Newey himself? I see a lot of Newey supporters point to his statement when he left RBR but again its just as likely some good PR about breaking their contract and negotiation of gardening leave to point CH in a good light at the time, seen that kinda thing done before. I can seen plenaty of reason he could have left both with and without Horner

But the fact its, Horner stayed and Newey left. If Newey stayed on, you could then say it had nothing to do between them but it must have done. Newey and Horner shared the same PA. Newey knew what was going on between her and Christian. She had to leak the messages via someone..

That is still speculation isn't it, there was some talk at the time if all the messages were accurate there would have been enough in the team that had access to that info, also my memory was too Marko wasn't a supporter of the Porsche buyout it pretty much removed the influence he had a team he had plenty of influence in building gone. Like I said not saying CH wasn't the key reason he went but I think both sides can be selective confirmation bias and pick and choose info to suit their agenda. As I said I don't really put any weight on Neweys statement on leaving that supported CH as anything more than part of the agreement to leave/break his contract

[TeamKoolGreen]

One way out of this for Max himself is to fire his dad , (as Hamilton did) fire Helmut Marko and fire his agent.

If these guys could launch a honey pot sting on Horner to get him fired , they could do the same to Toto. As it is now , I doubt Toto is interested in Max

[WardenOfTheNorth]

One way out of this for Max himself is to fire his dad , (as Hamilton did) fire Helmut Marko and fire his agent.

If these guys could launch a honey pot sting on Horner to get him fired , they could do the same to Toto. As it is now , I doubt Toto is interested in Max

A honey pot sting only works if the target engages with it. You're assuming Toto would act in the same way as Horner.

[Sevach]

In that leaked farewell speech he says he will "still remain employed by the company", so there is some garden leave period then.

Even worst for the team if he still is one of the employees above the cap, one less spot for them to get a new mind to run the team and the factory.

[Watto]

Max can pretty much go wherever he wants, any team would be insane to reject him

Russell might well be like the 3rd best driver in F1 right now, and a pretty good future F1 champion in the making with a decent enough car. And despite that, Mercedes would seemingly not hesitate in kicking him to the curb if it meant upgrading to Max Verstappen. It's harsh, but also extremely rational. Because Max is an instant upgrade for any team on the grid pretty much by default.

Max has plenty of leverage, even if things aren't looking rosy at Red Bull.

McLaren are the only team I see hesitating on i. But with the reg change next year they would have a look.

[Matt2725]

Max can pretty much go wherever he wants, any team would be insane to reject him

Russell might well be like the 3rd best driver in F1 right now, and a pretty good future F1 champion in the making with a decent enough car. And despite that, Mercedes would seemingly not hesitate in kicking him to the curb if it meant upgrading to Max Verstappen. It's harsh, but also extremely rational. Because Max is an instant upgrade for any team on the grid pretty much by default.

Max has plenty of leverage, even if things aren't looking rosy at Red Bull.

I disagree that they would seemingly not hesitate. You or anyone but those involved do not know that with any certainty.
For me this situation actually weakens any leverage Max may have had, as it just appears he would be trying to abandon the sinking ship.

[Seanspeed]

Max can pretty much go wherever he wants, any team would be insane to reject him

Russell might well be like the 3rd best driver in F1 right now, and a pretty good future F1 champion in the making with a decent enough car. And despite that, Mercedes would seemingly not hesitate in kicking him to the curb if it meant upgrading to Max Verstappen. It's harsh, but also extremely rational. Because Max is an instant upgrade for any team on the grid pretty much by default.

Max has plenty of leverage, even if things aren't looking rosy at Red Bull.

I disagree that they would seemingly not hesitate. You or anyone but those involved do not know that with any certainty.
For me this situation actually weakens any leverage Max may have had, as it just appears he would be trying to abandon the sinking ship.

I agree it weakens Max's leverage to some degree, but only in details. It doesn't change the factor that Max is the best driver in F1 since Michael Schumacher and that bringing him onboard automatically makes them better and a stronger competitor.

[Matt2725]

Russell might well be like the 3rd best driver in F1 right now, and a pretty good future F1 champion in the making with a decent enough car. And despite that, Mercedes would seemingly not hesitate in kicking him to the curb if it meant upgrading to Max Verstappen. It's harsh, but also extremely rational. Because Max is an instant upgrade for any team on the grid pretty much by default.

Max has plenty of leverage, even if things aren't looking rosy at Red Bull.

I disagree that they would seemingly not hesitate. You or anyone but those involved do not know that with any certainty.
For me this situation actually weakens any leverage Max may have had, as it just appears he would be trying to abandon the sinking ship.

I agree it weakens Max's leverage to some degree, but only in details. It doesn't change the factor that Max is the best driver in F1 since Michael Schumacher and that bringing him onboard automatically makes them better and a stronger competitor.

He's the best driver in a Red Bull F1 car. Beyond that, with team culture, development paths and other items, we don't know how successful he would be at another team.

[f1zvzz]

Verstappen probably already signed with Mercedes, broke the news to the Redbull board and then the news of Christian getting sacked, and immediate changes of TP and CEO happens.

Why do I think that? Because, it adds up.

There is no possible reason why Redbull would sack Horner so immediate, even after all of the allegations and performance clauses. I would understand after the end of the season Horner would be probably outed from RBR but, the changes happen soo fast that Redbull are desperately looking for alternatives.

I think had Verstappen stayed and offer an ultimatum to stay with the team, none of this wouldn’t have happened so quickly. But the Verstappen camp didn’t issue any ultimatum.

By all info we have on his contract, it’s not possible for Max to officialy sign for anyone on his own, without the boards knowledge, even if they are using a clause in the contract.

But if Max decided and announced to leave, owners could be sacking Horner for that alone.
Or it could be “me or him” situation.

But I don’t see Max as part of this sacking… I think it is a result of team ownership games.

[Watto]

I disagree that they would seemingly not hesitate. You or anyone but those involved do not know that with any certainty.
For me this situation actually weakens any leverage Max may have had, as it just appears he would be trying to abandon the sinking ship.

I agree it weakens Max's leverage to some degree, but only in details. It doesn't change the factor that Max is the best driver in F1 since Michael Schumacher and that bringing him onboard automatically makes them better and a stronger competitor.

He's the best driver in a Red Bull F1 car. Beyond that, with team culture, development paths and other items, we don't know how successful he would be at another team.

I think hes the best driver full stop, but he has his faults/weaknesses and can't work miracles despite what Marko would have people believe.

That side, I think we even less know what the likes of Russell and Kimi will be like, F1 is littered (or sport in general) with drivers that look like they may be the next big thing. Show some early good signs sbut when the pressure really comes opportunity isn't taken.

I can see McLaren passing on him with Lando and Oscar but I think any other team would take him. I do tend to agree this while things would weaken his position a little but don't think by that much that a team would have suddenly closed the door on him because of this. He would have been looking got a while now in the background I don't think there is much that has happened that those looking wouldn't already be very aware of. I don't think it would come as a surprised that there was some friction between Max and Horner and they they would like CH out. - it they were looking before I don't think this changes a thing. Does it mean maybe Toto could have a few more conditions? probably but I don't think they'd walkaway because of all this with the interest hat has been shown and Toto almost defending more than Horner recently