Red Bull have been portrayed as a team in crisis since last weekend’s Bahrain GP. But Christian Horner may feel that’s not entirely fair.
The Milton Keynes outfit picked up just 10 points in Sakhir as Max Verstappen salvaged P6 with a last-lap overtake on Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda finished ninth. They were nowhere near the pace of the McLaren and sunk to a new low for the ground-effect era.
Afterwards, Verstappen’s manager Raymond Vermeulen was seen angrily confronting Helmut Marko. Vermeulen was apparently angry at the team’s slow pit stops, an unacceptable operational error to compound their on-track woes.
This, in turn, has increased speculation over the world champion’s future. It emerged this week that some in the paddock think Verstappen’s exit is a done deal.
But a simple look at the standings suggests the problems are manageable. Verstappen is still within eight points of the leader Lando Norris, and there’s optimism that the Spanish GP front-wing rule changes will hurt McLaren considerably.
Christian Horner bristles at Natalie Pinkham question about Red Bull correlation issues
Horner spoke to Sky Sports F1 after practice at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and host Natalie Pinkham asked him about the team’s self-confessed correlation issues. The data they’re seeing in the wind tunnel isn’t being replicated during race weekends.
This, Horner says, is the unfortunate consequence of the facility being so old. Sister team Racing Bulls have access to the same facility.
Earlier this season, Verstappen said Racing Bulls’ car was easier to drive and predicted Liam Lawson would be faster following his demotion. Pinkham wanted to know why the Faenza outfit weren’t having the same issues.
But Horner’s blunt response hinted at his frustration. He will surely see the negative publicity around the team as excessive given that they’ve won a race this month and delivered a fourth straight drivers’ title for Verstappen as recently as November.
The exchange with Pinkham went as follows.
Horner: “When you get to the finer elements of a set of regulations like this, the wind tunnel we have is a relic of the Cold War, so it has its limitations, which is why we’ve invested in a new tunnel that’s in the process of being constructed.
“It doesn’t help, but we’ve got some very bright engineers, aerodynamicists and mechanical designers that I’m sure will figure it out.”
Pinkham: “Is it not the same one that Racing Bulls use, though?”
Horner: “Yes, it is.”
Pinkham: “And they haven’t experienced the same issues?”
Horner: “Well, I think they have, because they’re not on pole position, are they?”
Red Bull staff ‘tense up’ when Christian Horner does one thing at F1 races
Speaking before the season started, Jos Verstappen expressed some concern about Red Bull following the departures of Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley. He said the team needed to prove they could win without their legendary designer and accomplished sporting director.
The early signs aren’t promising. Red Bull haven’t been able to deliver a consistently compliant car since the first third of 2024, the same period where Newey resigned.
And as for Wheatley, he prided himself on excellence in the pit stops, an area where the team let themselves down last weekend.
According to one journalist, Red Bull staff ‘tense up’ when they see Horner walk into the hospitality unit, and the same is true for Marko. That paints a worrying picture of the atmosphere of the team, but winning covers a multitude of sins, and they will still believe they can win this year.
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