Red Bull F1

RedBull certainly was able to MAXimize its results on specific tracks I expect them to be strong in SIN overall but not take the win. The 2 recent races allowed us some variety as we wait for the new regs etc. Good to watch overall even with the dull DRS trains at times. Mistakes allowed us to be a bit more engaged.

 

They´ve brought updates later than everybody else and as before they´re good at low degradation, low temperature, low downforce races, but I doubt they´ll be able to keep the pace everywhere. They need Norris and Piastri sabotaging each other and a lot of luck. FIA/Liberty could help them by asking Pirelli to bring harder tyres (oh, no way they´d rig a championship with the tyres, it would be the first time they´d done something like that!!).

 

Horner's final day at RedBull, technically, receives a severance package anywhere from 50 million euros to 60 million euros or close to 100 million USD. Nothing confirmed yet to the amount of the severance package.

He will be free to become a TP after a few months in 2026.

 

with what he's already made I'd ask to be paid out in the BVI, buy a beach front pad and sit there for the next 5 years and contemplate...absolutely nothing.

 

That sounds nice.

F1 moves fast. He's still young and can sell himself as a TP of what he did a RedBull and still make more money. I think he's got that itch and will return soon.

 

He would be a fool to think he can ever repeat what he did at Red Bull.

I am with @Bas on that: Horner should enjoy his early retirement.

 

If you watch his post-qualifying interview in Monza two weeks ago, you can see Max trying very hard to hide a knowing smile. Perhaps he knew then that he was now in the hunt for a 5th WDC. Baku results have most definitely shaken things up. McLaren no longer have the luxury of manipulating race results. Speaking as a fan: If Lando wins, I will be disappointed. If Oscar wins, I will be happy. If Max wins, I will be ecstatic.

 

Definitely not a repeat from RedBull but his history at RedBull is quite the resume should he pursue another TP principal role with another team.

 

Very interested to see what RedBull brings to Singapore and if they do have something, they're going to show it during the latter part of FP3 and for sure during qualifying.

 

Aston Martin would be a perfect home for Horner, that is unless Newey secretly can't stand him. Then of course Horner will want to do things his way and Stroll Sr will micromanage his way to ruining the team like always. But for a couple years, it would make sense.

 

+1

 

Horner would never get the same satisfaction: building a team to win 6 WCCs and 8 WDCs.
NO other team will ever give him that, so why go through the pain again ?

 

Horner has 1 team potentially available - Alpine.

Have fun lol! Perfect fit for texty-fingers Horner

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-15045999/Flavio-Briatore-flirting-young-women-bikinis.html
F1 supremo Flavio Briatore, 75, appears to flirt with two much younger bikini-clad women on luxury yacht trip alongside his 15-year-old son, after split from ex 49 years his junior

 

The pain that you're referring to is possibly Horner's innate contribution to what he can bring to the table of an F1 team given his expertise in a TP role.
If Briatore can bring his contributions in a defacto TP role, however painful that may be, then I'm sure Horner can do it too.....given he has enough Tylenol.

 

His payout is just over 50mil vs 80 reported yesterday. He can buy shares or equity but with 2-3billion team values, he is not aToto size player yet.

 

LOL Tylenol with a touch of Fentanyl

 

For Horner, accepting the TP job at Alpine would be like flogging a dead horse !

As long as that team is a Renault satelite, it will be plagued by chronic instability caused by corporate infighting.

 

Renault is a curious team, as they are a factory team, but Renault doesn't seem to have their total commitment to F1. Considering the fact that they have been run by committee for so long. With the MBZ engine they seem to have even given up on how they originally started in 1977 with the Turbo V6. Until that team has the full financial commitment and long term plan under FB or whoever, they will always languish in the back midfield. Frankly, I don't think Renault actually cares.

 

Well, Renault won. It was 20 years ago but it can be done. Also McLaren is showing what can be done with a customer engine. Although I think that Renault is happy with what they have now: just some promo without burning cash. With customer engines that team will run almost for free, and anybody wanting to enter F1 will pay a fortune for an existing team.

 

Renault is waiting for the right opportunity to sell Alpine F1. They are not there for the long term.
Abandonning their own powerplant program and becoming a Mercedes client makes things easier.

 

I think Horner could end up at Ferrari. Vassuer is not getting the job done, and bringing in a new TP gives Ferrari more "wait until next year" excuses. And it would give Elkann a way/excuse to step out of his F1 micromanaging role (at which he's been a failure), put the team in Horner's hands, and turn his own focus on to Stellantis and the road cars.

 

Bye Horner lol - Max Verstappen has spoken of past turbulence within Red Bull, and has indicated that the team is starting to "feel like a family again."

 

Audi signs Verstappen's F1 chief mechanic from Red Bull

 

Interesting. They need to start off decently or show quick improvement to Max in 2026 or risk losing him. The PU is also a significant unknown.
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-f1-2025-progress-surprising-cost/

Red Bull's 2025 progress has come at a surprising cost
Oct 7, 2025
by Scott Mitchell-Malm, Jon Noble

Red Bull admits its ongoing improvement of its 2025 Formula 1 car has come at the cost of some early work on next year's major rule changes.

A new front wing for the Singapore Grand Prix helped Max Verstappen and Red Bull beat chief rival McLaren on a maximum-downforce circuit for the first time this year, although it was not enough for Verstappen to claim his third win in a row.

Still, being George Russell's closest challenger in qualifying and the race was a significant moment for Red Bull as, although it was not quite on McLaren's level for race pace in Singapore, being genuinely faster in qualifying is what earned the track position that proved crucial.

This has not happened before at maximum-downforce circuits. Verstappen's early giant-killing feats against the McLarens this season, including winning at Suzuka back in April, have come from the four-time F1 world champion making a lower-drag set-up work on tracks with bigger aero compromises.

And it was only a couple of months ago, before the summer break, that Red Bull looked lost and Verstappen was speaking extremely forlornly about the rest of the season.

But after winning from pole when everyone was running low downforce at Monza and in Baku, Verstappen noted how promising it was for Red Bull to be quick in Singapore too, something team boss Laurent Mekies said "means a lot" because "what we have unlocked is not only low-downforce specific".

Even McLaren team boss Andrea Stella admitted this was "evidence" of Red Bull really getting on top of its car's main weaknesses, which is the result of sustained, intense development around the floor and in Singapore the addition of a new front wing.

That turnaround, which keeps Verstappen in long-shot championship contention but more importantly means he has higher hopes for each remaining weekend, has come at a potentially significant price.

Mekies admitted that pushing on for so long this year has to hurt Red Bull's preparations for F1's massive 2026 rule changes - which every other team, including McLaren, switched full focus to much earlier.
That's a surprising risk to have taken, but it's not happened just to make Verstappen happier this year. Red Bull's long been in a development funk, and getting to the bottom of its problems at low-downforce tracks last year and long-running weaknesses with kerb riding has been key.

"It was and it is very important that we get to understand if the [current] project has more performance," said Mekies.

"It's important we get to the bottom of it, because we will elaborate next year's project, even if next year's regulations are completely different, with the same tools and methodology.

"And it's very important that we validate with this year's car how we are looking at the data is correct, how we are developing the car is correct, [what it is] that produced that level of development, that will give us confidence in the winter for next year's car.

"Of course it comes at a cost undoubtedly for the '26 project but we feel it's the right trade-off for us, without judging what the other guys are doing."

With McLaren beaten again, Verstappen may smell blood, if not in the championship then the six remaining races.

It will take until next March to see how much Red Bull has suffered for delaying full focus on its 2026 car, but the ultimate short-term pay-off for Red Bull would be that Verstappen starts to make bigger inroads on his 63-point deficit to Oscar Piastri and steals the drivers' title.

Realistically, the gaps have not changed enough for Verstappen to be confident that's possible.

But he at least has a better chance now of beating the McLarens more often, and he felt Red Bull actually had more potential in Singapore after ending up unhappy with his car's balance in the race and having to manage his tyres more after an aggressive choice to start on softs did not pay off.

 

Hi Toto!
Laurent Mekies’ hard truth on learning at the limit: “It’s going to hurt at some stage”
Laurent Mekies says Oracle Red Bull Racing turns painful weekends into progress through a blame-free, process-driven culture