Horner discovered 'family and job' earlier today. Tomorrow God, Allah or some other deity lol! He is so far out of his league and comes across as a complete newbie to anything resembling a career / political battle he put in motion. He has zero control over the 'narrative'. Jos had him for lunch and dinner last week. Horner sounds like a cheap politician not a leader. Wheatley could run the team as good if not better most likely and at half the 8 Mil Pound Sterling salary Horner has become bored with. Rather than do his job he focused on a staff member and the rest is history. His home wrecking wife should clean him out in court if he she had any sense of dignity. He is completely exposed. All that Spice Girl - Girl Power talk eludes her. Time to put that back to work Spice-wife.
So crazy Jos somehow wanted to run Max's winning F1 career and saw a flaw in Horner to exploit? Empasis on crazy Jos. Do I have this close? And any top level corporate feud is just baloney?
Horner is toast & he knows it. His entire focus now is on maximising his severance package, after all, he has an expensive divorce on the horizon.
None of this makes sense and I haven't seen any official statements by any of the people involved. Red Bull is a well oiled machine that is at the top of their game and nobody can catch them. Success, and money. Yet Red Bull owners want to break this up? Up until all the controversy started, there has never been any rumors that Horner had bad relationship with Red Bull, or Newey, or other RBR employees. Now suddenly its the company vs him? Red Bull has by far the best car which is what every driver wants and yet Jos wants Max to leave? Jos and Max appear to have a very solid relationship, and Jos is going threatening to pull his son from the best seat in F1 for what reason? Max has never came across someone that values money over everything. He doesn't live a lavish lifestyle. He races and wins in real life, then he races and wins on his computer. The idea this is fight over money seems ridiculous. At $55m a year, has anyone heard any shred of complaint from him? Ford has supposedly thrown in their 2 cents. Is it really beneficial to them to threaten to pull out of the deal? They are a financial supporter, not a technical supporter. RBPT builds a power unit and Ford throws their sticker on it and right now Red Bull are the best car that is winning everything. That's a damn good deal for Ford IMO, and they want to throw it away? Again I reiterate, there have been no proven statements (certainly nothing on video) of any of the people involved. It's all rumors and nobody is confirming or denying any of it. In a world where Money, Power and Success rule all. Red Bull makes the most money in F1 by having the most success. Christian Horner has done a great job with his political pull around F1, so he has been a key figure in the power Red Bull has within the sport. Max Verstappen has a team that builds the car to his wants, the car is the most successful, and he makes enormous amounts of money. Where is the gain for anyone? The only entities I see gaining from all this crap is Formula 1/Liberty Media as this is more "interesting" than the actual racing. If it does break up Red Bull and it hurts their success, then again F1/Liberty Media gain from fans not leaving out of utter boredom due to lack of competition. Of course the media outlets getting clicks for all the poor reporting are gaining lots from this.
Jos is a true "show biz mother." He tries to hide his own F1 failed career behind his son's exceptional one. But you can see the bully in Jos' face. His lust for power and glory will damage if not destroy his son's future as a driver. Jos wants control of Red Bull and that means getting Horner out. And he's willing to destroy RB if he doesn't get what he wants. As much as Toto might like Max, he knows that he doesn't need Jos creating the same problems for Mercedes. Max could be without a ride in 2025 if he allows his father to run his life.
This situation is nothing new in Corporate governance. Horner's situation allowed a glimpse of what has been brewing with respect to control well above the team. Control is the key to this and there is a fight apparently between governing members, minority and majority. The racing F1 operation is now affected given that factions want Horner out. The secondary effects of that are apparent given how F1, FIA and fans react with the media constantly sourcing information, accurate or not. Your missing the gains those in control want out of all this at the RedBull GmbH level or in Thailand. The rest are secondary. The more public view of the fallout from the major management change(death of Mateschitz), is now apparent. Nothing new in the Corporate world at the level where RedBull reside. This is just 1 issue among many that are on-going one would think. Horner is utterly replaceable. He in no way designs a single component or does any technical work of any major impact. Wheatley is a capable replacement for him if he is removed or leaves. Other than this, there is a constant flow between teams of personnel etc. World ending none of this is. Who predicted LH's moves to Mercedes or Ferrari. No one. Horner is replaceable. With respect to the team the only question is when or if he leaves and what adaptation is needed to move forward with the new leadership. Nothing else. How others react cannot be controlled if they leave the team over this etc. Whats acceptable at the Corporate level is often not in alignment at another functional component level well below the headquarters such as the team.
Is it a coincidence that this whole story broke a day or two after Lewis's transfer was confirmed ? (Apologies if someone has already suggested this)
Jos Verstappen was a turd on wheels. In his 8 years in the F1 the most common result was 0 points and between his last two seasons he scored one miserable point. In the meantime, no saint, he avoided prison for fracturing a man's skull https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/verstappen-guilty-of-assault-but-walks-free-5055580/5055580/ And now he wants to boycott his own son getting his hands dirty for an affair he doesn't belong to, without having any job or occupation in the team, and boycotting his own son's successful career. I don't know what's with f1 dads, Hamilton's dark father almost destroyed his own son's reputation (now he takes care of destroying it himself), each time Checho Perez's father visits his son at a racetrack he has a terrible performance and apparently Sainz father's reputation as a jinx is affecting Carlos as well. I miss the time when F1 drivers were fully grown-ups and not fast boys with a pack under their father's wings.
The irony of how Ferrari fans blamed Binotto for years and demanded he get replaced and ignored the actual technical teams under him. Now Horner apparently has done nothing for Red Bull and isn't worth a penny on the pavement.
Post of the day. In 80’s drivers were men. Now they looks like stupid teenagers like Tsunoda or Norris..