Red Bull is a unique case in F1 when it comes to management structure.
If you look at the company Red Bull Racing on any official website, it's clear that CEO Christian Horner is at the helm, but dig a little deeper and you'll see a long history of power games.
Horner's role may put him at the top of the Red Bull racing tree, but from a broader Red Bull Group perspective, CEO Oliver Mintzlaff currently heads up the energy drink's sports division.
And Helmut Marko. The 80-year-old was a key element in the formation of the team almost 20 years ago and was rewarded with the vaguely titled role of “motorsports advisor”. Marco was also the one who chose Horner to carry out the operation, and their relationship appeared stable for a long time.
But now there is confusion.
Rumors of a power struggle between Marco and Horner first surfaced midway through the 2023 season, with Marco Horner's xenophobic comments about Sergio Perez thrusting him into the spotlight.
Horner claims that Marko is not an employee of Red Bull Racing and therefore not under the team principal's jurisdiction, and when it comes to Red Bull GmbH, Marko has filed a lawsuit against Mintzlaff and Mark Mateschitz against his late father. They seemed to have had a similar influence. .
Marko survived the incident, but it remains to be seen whether Horner will complete Red Bull's own investigation into the alleged misconduct. Mr. Horner strongly denies these claims.
The surface of the investigation was also telling. This came from Dutch media with sources close to Verstappen's camp, and started speculation that Verstappen and Marko were behind it. This is, of course, unproven, but it is telling that at the time the battle lines were drawn, even long-time allies were reluctant to come to their aid.
Compare this to when Marco was under pressure. There were reports that Max Verstappen would walk away if he gave the boot to Marko.
But even if the allegations prove unfounded and Horner's name is cleared, the relationship between the two men appears to be irreparably strained.
Compare it to the other 9 constructors on the grid. Each point can point to a leader. Andrea Stella is McLaren's team principal, but Zak Brown is the CEO above her. Alessandro Arunni Bravi is the stake's team principal and Andreas Seidl is his CEO above him. James Bolles is Williams' Team Principal. Matthew Savage is the chairman of the owner, Doriton Capital, above him.
Visa Cash App RB also has Peter Bayer as CEO and Laurent Mekies as team principal.
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But at Red Bull, there are two men operating in the same space. While Marco's role gives him the freedom to work wherever he wants, Horner is given team principal duties, and the two often overlap.
Marco controls the junior team with an iron fist and is happy to be the face of the team when he has something to say. Meanwhile, Horner has to conduct the obligatory press conferences, meetings and PR that comes with being team principal.
And all this tension comes at a time when Red Bull are winning. That begs the question for those behind it: why now? If we view the Horner investigation as a separate case, the question remains why people behind the scenes are shaking things up when things are going so smoothly.
One possible answer is ego. They are least happy when one side takes credit for the team's success and vice versa, but the danger of making such a move is that it can derail the entire team. is.
Heading into 2024, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who agrees that Red Bull won't be the favorites again.
A record of 22 wins out of 23 last season means they deserve the title favorites tag, but when it comes to when this era will end and who will end it, Red Bull themselves will usher in the era. It's becoming increasingly possible.
Complacency is deadly in winning organizations, but ego is just as important. He was left vulnerable because Mercedes thought he knew a lot about the W13 design and even more so that he knew a lot about the W14 design.
If that happens, the Red Bull era may be doomed by debate over who will manage the ashes.
Read next: Will Christian Horner's departure spell the end for Red Bull's dominant empire?
