2025 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[euv2]

I also think Horner getting the boot wasn't good for RedBull. I don't believe he was just a random guy that by coincidence ended up riding the success wave of the team. Clearly whatever he was doing, resonated well with this team in the background and they had the results to back it up. Had they had a competitive PU in the early turbo-hybrid era, this team would have been challenging for titles all the way through, which is remarkable to say the least. There's barely been any bad RedBull car since 2009.

The problem is that there were obviously some bad blood kind of sh*t going in the background in the last couple of years. High ranking individuals in the team ended up fighting with each other with regards to who gets the biggest piece of the pie after Dietrich death. Which is sad. In the end Horner kind of sealed his fate with the whole "cocoa puffs" fiasco, but I think that was just the catalyst that was used as an excuse to justify his departure. He had started to make enemies within before that.

Success isn't eternal. Horner was a great leader for a long time but by the end he started slipping, the results and his personal decision making reflected that. The calm focus that the team found towards the end of the season is exactly what they needed to get back to.

Horner was slipping? you don't think teams go through cycles? Red bull was adapting to the loss of Newey and Marshall; it takes time for the new guns to get to grips with their new roles and have the same decision making authority and conviction. Whilst also dealing with reduced ATR and the penalty that came with the overspend.

Marko somehow blamed Horner for the entire car performance, as if the same people Horner hired aren't responsible for the so called "comeback". You don't fire a guy whose been successful for 20 years just because of 1 years of slight underperformance, the Austrian side did well to convince all the casual followers of the sport that somehow Horner was responsible for the car performance and just replacing him with Mekies somehow solved everything.

It damning indictment of the technical team at Red bull if it took just Mekies to show them the light, a person who should be much less competent the 100s of PhD's and other senior staff there. If I was one of the senior technical staff at Red bull, I'd be pretty disappointed to see Mekies get all the credit.

[f1isgood]

The team had slipped back in 2024 with the risks they had to take due to lack of wind tunnel. Horner's text saga/internal war or not, the car development was hurt already. For Marko, it is just a convenient face saver.

The team sorted their issues out and that takes a lot of time - just see all around the paddock how well teams have done these regulations. Ferrari went to --- this year, McLaren were --- for 2 years straight and Mercedes haven't recovered from the zeropods.

Red Bull's technical team still managed to make a working car that won 8 races this year. Credit where due. It's not like Verstappen alone was magically winning. It took a good enough car that's close enough, good operational efficiency and of course Verstappen being the machine he is. Horner is responsible for this team. He will also have at least half responsibility for next year's car and full responsibility for RBPT.

Horner slipping is just a stupid argument. You can't keep winning but Red Bull did find a way every year of these regulations. 17, 19, 9 and 8 wins are pretty good given the resource limitation. That's the global picture.

[Badger]

Success isn't eternal. Horner was a great leader for a long time but by the end he started slipping, the results and his personal decision making reflected that. The calm focus that the team found towards the end of the season is exactly what they needed to get back to.

Horner was slipping?

Yes. He stopped recruiting top talent and began losing it instead. They went from the winningest car ever in 2023, to 3rd in the WCC in 2024, to being flat out uncompetitive for two thirds of 2025. That's a pretty bad fall off during an engine freeze IMO, and it would have looked much worse if not for Verstappen's miraculous driving. The scandal obviously had a big effect, it showed a lack of judgement. I don't think he would have been that sloppy and irresponsible earlier in his career. When you've been somewhere for a long time sometimes you start getting complacent and you take liberties that you wouldn't otherwise. At the same time as these personal and professional question marks were starting to pop up there was also the power struggle, he effectively tried to shut out RB Austria and consolidate power under himself with the support of Yoovidhya. That was a risky political move and he lost out.

People claiming Horner is some kind of victim are wide of the mark. He undermined himself. Personally, professionally, and politically within the team. We can still appreciate what he accomplished but it was time to move on for RB. I hope he comes back with another team but with the focus and discipline that he used to have.

[f1isgood]

I also think Horner getting the boot wasn't good for RedBull. I don't believe he was just a random guy that by coincidence ended up riding the success wave of the team. Clearly whatever he was doing, resonated well with this team in the background and they had the results to back it up. Had they had a competitive PU in the early turbo-hybrid era, this team would have been challenging for titles all the way through, which is remarkable to say the least. There's barely been any bad RedBull car since 2009.

The problem is that there were obviously some bad blood kind of sh*t going in the background in the last couple of years. High ranking individuals in the team ended up fighting with each other with regards to who gets the biggest piece of the pie after Dietrich death. Which is sad. In the end Horner kind of sealed his fate with the whole "cocoa puffs" fiasco, but I think that was just the catalyst that was used as an excuse to justify his departure. He had started to make enemies within before that.

Success isn't eternal. Horner was a great leader for a long time but by the end he started slipping, the results and his personal decision making reflected that. The calm focus that the team found towards the end of the season is exactly what they needed to get back to.

Horner was slipping? you don't think teams go through cycles? Red bull was adapting to the loss of Newey and Marshall; it takes time for the new guns to get to grips with their new roles and have the same decision making authority and conviction. Whilst also dealing with reduced ATR and the penalty that came with the overspend.

Marko somehow blamed Horner for the entire car performance, as if the same people Horner hired aren't responsible for the so called "comeback". You don't fire a guy whose been successful for 20 years just because of 1 years of slight underperformance, the Austrian side did well to convince all the casual followers of the sport that somehow Horner was responsible for the car performance and just replacing him with Mekies somehow solved everything.

It damning indictment of the technical team at Red bull if it took just Mekies to show them the light, a person who should be much less competent the 100s of PhD's and other senior staff there. If I was one of the senior technical staff at Red bull, I'd be pretty disappointed to see Mekies get all the credit.

Mekies hasn't achieved anything so far. He is likeable and an idealist. Whether he will be a winner, only time will tell. I already think Red Bull would have forced McLaren into more mistakes with Horner around. People like Horner were disliked because they were a pain in the ass for others. It's not like Brown wasn't losing his mind over Horner every week for the last couple of years and Toto is still coping about 2021.

[euv2]

Success isn't eternal. Horner was a great leader for a long time but by the end he started slipping, the results and his personal decision making reflected that. The calm focus that the team found towards the end of the season is exactly what they needed to get back to.

Horner was slipping?

Yes. He stopped recruiting top talent and began losing it instead. They went from the winningest car ever in 2023, to 3rd in the WCC in 2024, to being flat out uncompetitive for two thirds of 2025. That's a pretty bad fall off during an engine freeze IMO, and it would have looked much worse if not for Verstappen's miraculous driving. The scandal obviously had a big effect, it showed a lack of judgement. I don't think he would have been that sloppy and irresponsible earlier in his career. When you've been somewhere for a long time sometimes you start getting complacent and you take liberties that you wouldn't otherwise. At the same time as these personal and professional question marks were starting to pop up there was also the power struggle, he effectively tried to shut out RB Austria and consolidate power under himself with the support of Yoovidhya. That was a risky political move and he lost out.

People claiming Horner is some kind of victim are wide of the mark. He undermined himself. Personally, professionally, and politically within the team. We can still appreciate what he accomplished but it was time to move on for RB. I hope he comes back with another team but with the focus and discipline that he used to have.

Where do you think the top talent comes from? it's from teams like Red Bull, where younger engineers learn from experience and interacting with the best. When at the top everyone considers that you have the best talent, now it's same with MCL, the people there weren't rated highly 2 years ago, now Marshall and co. are the best. Only successful people are considered good, and considering Red Bull and MERC dominated for so long, there's limited no. of best. So, does Red Bull go out and resign Prodromou and Marshall from MCL? or let the person who's been successful for 20 years be the judge?

Newey and Marshall weren't going to get any younger, Horner had have planned for their succession, and he did so by giving long term contracts to Ben Waterhouse, Wache, Enrico Balbo. The same people responsible for the comeback. Let's not forget about the massive ATR deficit to MCL and the exposure of their floor designs for the world to see, didn't play a big part. And still, RBR were only really outdone by MCL, they were still clear of Mercedes and Ferrari.