After the demonstrative kiss between team boss Christian Horner and his wife, world champion father Jos Verstappen’s verbal frontal attack destroyed the last hope for any remaining peace and harmony at Red Bull.
Instead of being happy about his son’s confident victory, the 51-year-old ex-racing driver fueled all suspicions about the raging power struggle in the old and, for many, new world champion team after the first race.
“The team is in danger of being torn apart. Things cannot continue like this,” Jos Verstappen was quoted as saying by the British Daily Mail. And he prophesied: “It will explode.” A frontal attack from the person closest to him is the Bahrain winner and three-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen. Horner plays the victim while he is the one causing the problems, said Jos Verstappen. The ordeal in the team in which Max Verstappen matured into one of the best drivers in the history of the premier motorsport class has not yet been publicly documented with such verbal vehemence.
Max Verstappen enthuses: When you are one with the car
And that at the debut, which couldn’t have gone any better in terms of sport and which prompted Max Verstappen to make his first declarations of love for the new car. He won from pole and also set the fastest lap of the race. “Simply wonderful. It’s even better than expected. A real pleasure,” he enthused about the RB20.
And the sentence that every driver would like to say about his car came naturally to the 26-year-old after his relaxed victory drive with a lead of over 22 seconds over teammate Sergio Pérez on Saturday evening under the floodlights on the Sakhir circuit: “It’s special to have one of those days when everything feels perfect and you’re one with the car.”
Career win number 55 after the 33rd pole was the reward. “Max drove in another galaxy,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff. “Verstappen does not represent excitement or hope, but rather the dominance and desperation of the competition,” said the “Kleine Zeitung” from Red Bull’s home country of Austria.
Horner’s supporters came specifically to Bahrain
There in Fuschl am See at the company headquarters they will initially have been happy to see the pictures of the double success after the only apparent end to the spicy affair surrounding team boss Horner. An employee’s complaint was dismissed on Wednesday last week following an external investigation. The next day, emails with a link to files in the matter, alongside calls from Wolff, among others, for more transparency, caused a new uproar.
During the race, Horner, who denies the allegations, received demonstrative support from his wife Geri Halliwell, a former member of the Spice Girls. They have been married since 2015. It is also rare for Red Bull’s majority owner, Thai billionaire Chalerm Yoovidhya, to be at a race. He came to Bahrain. He is considered a clear advocate for Horner. In contrast, the faction around Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Helmut Marko should stand – this also includes Jos and Max Verstappen.
The fact that the allegations were first made public by a Dutch newspaper at the time had already fueled speculation about a possible source. “But why should I do that? Max has a contract with Red Bull until 2028, shows great performances and feels comfortable here. I have no interest in that at all,” emphasized Jos Verstappen in the “Telegraaf”.
Does Red Bull come down to the question: Verstappen or Horner?
After his world champion driver’s victory, Horner himself emphasized that he firmly expects him to remain as team boss. “Absolutely, otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “I have the support of an incredible family, an incredible wife, an incredible team and everyone on this team,” emphasized Horner.
But that is the big and decisive question, massive doubts are allowed. Especially after Jos Verstappen’s statements, which he also made according to “Telegraaf”. In the end, the question is: him or us? And what would that mean? The French sports newspaper “L’Équipe” wrote about a marriage that lasted forever because of the sporting successes. It is a nightmare for competitors. And anyone who knows Formula 1 will probably guess that their rivals have no interest in peace and harmony for the defending champion team.
Ferrari and Mercedes – are only chasing Red Bull again
The saying that they can only beat themselves in the World Cup seems truer than ever this year. The competition has not closed the gap – as of the start, although the conditions were not representative. Carlos Sainz in third and Charles Leclerc in fourth had no chance against Verstappen in the Ferrari.
At Mercedes and record world champion Lewis Hamilton (7th place), the hope at the start of the long record season with 24 Grand Prix and the finale on December 8th in Abu Dhabi has already suffered its first serious setback. And the rest are just the rest far behind Red Bull. Whether it stays that way will be seen in a few days at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. In any case, that is much more likely than that peace will return to the defending champions’ team despite success.
