Former Formula 1 driver Gerhard Berger fears the internal battle at Red Bull in 2024 marked “the beginning of the end” for one of the great F1 teams.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen claimed a fourth consecutive World Championship in F1 2024, overcoming a series of challenges both on and off track to secure his latest title.

Gerhard Berger fears for Red Bull future after ‘atypical’ F1 2024

After starting last season in dominant fashion, Verstappen went 10 races without a win – his worst barren run since 2020 – as the team lost their way with the development of the RB20 car.

Although Verstappen managed to clinch the Drivers’ title, reigning champions Red Bull slumped to a disappointing third, behind McLaren and Ferrari, in the Constructors’ standings.

Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes tensions between his father Jos Verstappen and Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, threatened to overshadow Verstappen’s title challenge.

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Verstappen Sr called for Horner to resign from his role in the aftermath of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, just days after the team principal was cleared following an investigation into alleged inappropriate behaviour.

The pair’s row reignited months later at the Austrian Grand Prix, where Verstappen Sr withdrew from a pre-race legends’ parade after Horner voiced reservations over his planned appearance at the Red Bull Ring.

Speaking at the end of last year, Verstappen Sr revealed that the situation inside Red Bull has since improved with the team “now growing a bit more together again.”

However, he insisted that he stood by “everything I said” across the F1 2024 season.

Berger, who claimed 10 victories in 210 F1 appearances between 1984 and 1997, once held a 50 per cent shareholding in Red Bull junior team VCARB (then Toro Rosso).

The Austrian oversaw Red Bull’s first F1 victory with Sebastian Vettel at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, appearing alongside Vettel on the podium to collect the trophy for the winning manufacturer.

And the former Ferrari and McLaren driver fears the infighting in 2024 marked the beginning of the end for Red Bull, claiming the team started to “crumble” not long after the death of founder Dietrich Mateschitz in October 2022.

He told German publication Auto Motor und Sport: “It’s a well-known fact that you need much longer to build up than to tear down.

“But nobody would have thought that everything would crumble just six months after the death of Didi Mateschitz.

“It’s often the beginning of the end when such issues are triggered.

“Formula 1 is so complex and so competitive that you can only be successful if everyone in the team pulls together, if everyone is in agreement and communicates well with each other.

“The Red Bull brand has always radiated cheerfulness and a cool image. Suddenly everything has changed.

“Completely atypical for the team, there are no longer any clear statements.”

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Berger pointed to Red Bull “avoiding” a decision on the future of Sergio Perez in 2024 as evidence of the team’s newfound dysfunction in the post-Mateschitz era.

Despite failing to add another podium finish after the fifth race of 2024 in China, Perez was awarded with a new two-year contract ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix in June.

With Perez struggling to score points as the season developed, Red Bull opted against replacing him even as they fell behind McLaren and Ferrari in the race for the Constructors’ title.

Perez eventually vacated his seat in December with Liam Lawson stepping up as Verstappen’s new team-mate for F1 2025.

Berger believes Red Bull would not have shown so much patience towards an underperforming driver like Perez in the past, adding: “Let’s take the example of Perez.

“It was clear that he was no longer performing. The fact that he was nevertheless given a contract again was not understood by the experts.

“There may have been reasons, such as marketing constraints or the contract situation.

“But when things didn’t get any better after that, he was given three more races and then two more and a decision was avoided.

“I couldn’t recognise a clear line.

“In the Mateschitz era, Red Bull was always famous for clarity.”

As revealed by PlanetF1.com last month, the new Red Bull RB21 car for the F1 2025 season will make its on-track debut in a brief shakedown test in Bahrain on February 25, 24 hours before the start of F1’s official pre-season test in Sakhir.

Red bull have traditionally staged a shakedown at Silverstone, the home of F1’s British Grand Prix, before the start of formal pre-season running.

However, the unique winter schedule for F1 2025, including the sport’s first-ever season-launch event, set to be held at London’s O2 Arena on February 18, has forced Red Bull to move the shakedown run to the Bahrain Grand Prix venue.

Three days of testing will be held in Bahrain across February 26-28 ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 16.

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