According to an expert, Red Bull’s problems stem from the death of Dietrich Mateschitz. The team manager’s harassment case has also affected the dynamics.
Formula 1 is about to undergo a change that many have been waiting for for several years. Red Bull, which dominated the series for many years, has been in trouble.
Recently, Red Bull’s trend has been downward, when Max Verstappen’s cars from McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari have come to the fore. For example, in the five previous races, Verstappen has only been on the podium once. His previous victory is almost two months ago in Spain.
Sports expert Jukka Mildhin according to Red Bull’s collapse, there are two factors. First of all, there has been a significant political struggle going on within the team. It goes back to the founder and owner of Red Bull by Dietrich Mateschitz to death two years ago.
– The different owners are fighting each other in the energy drink company, which directly affects the Formula Ones as well. It slows things down. However, Mateschitz was the driving force in the formula pattern, Mildh knows.
In addition, the competition has grown and especially McLaren has emerged as a tough contender. McLaren overtook Red Bull teams in the World Championship last weekend and now leads by 20 points. The last time Red Bull did not lead the teams’ championship was in May 2022.
– On the technical side, Red Bull has finally received a strong resistance from McLaren and why not also from Mercedes, says Mildh.
Red Bull lagged behind in development
For a long time, Red Bull was the aerodynamically superior car in the F1 pit. In particular, the layout of the car worked perfectly. Recently, however, others have gained a head start with, among other things, their wind tunnels.
– In F1, there is an arms race specifically with regard to wind tunnels. Red Bull has not updated things in the schedule it should have. McLaren, on the other hand, has a really tough wind tunnel at the moment.
The dynamic changed
According to the expert, the team’s dynamics have also changed during the season due to internal storms. During the season, it has been said that the designer guru Adrian Newey like a sports director of Jonathan Wheatley to leave Red Bull after this season.
Newey moves to Aston Martin and Wheatley to Audi. For example The BBC already reported in Aprilthat the team manager is behind Newey’s departure by Christian Horner harassment noise. Horner was suspected of harassing a female employee of the team, but Red Bull’s internal investigation cleared him of all charges.
Mildh reminds us that during a major change, it is natural for teams to recruit new people to design their future cars. Mildh adds that the rule reforms of 2026 are significant and we can officially work on them from the beginning of 2025.
However, the expert also highlights the spirit of the team and the impact of the Horner case.
– For a long time, dynamic management has gone like song and play, if you could say so. Now it seems that all is not going well. Christian Horner has not had an easy year personally.
Red Bull believes that the upgrades to its car will work best in Austin in October. The expert sees that Red Bull can still fight for the teams’ championship title, but it will be more difficult than before.
by Sergio Perez must improve considerably, as the gap between the Mexican and Verstappen has been too great. Perez drove well in Baku until he crashed Carlos Sainz with.
In the Drivers’ World Series, Verstappen leads Lando Norris by 59 points with seven races remaining in the season. However, according to the expert, Norris’ world championship would require a worse collapse from Verstappen.
A rare situation in the F1 series
Norris’s position as the number one driver and Oscar Piastri great quotes. McLaren may even be capable of double wins and Piastri may take on the role of “bully” in relation to Verstappen.
– We shouldn’t forget about Ferrari either, even though they have had a difficult season. The situation will not be easy for McLaren if Ferrari mixes things up.
– However, it has been a situation for a long time that Norris can also challenge Verstappen in the drivers’ World Championship.