Red Bull Racing’s ‘bizarre atmosphere’ sees staff ‘tense up’ when chiefs Christian Horner and Helmut Marko walk into the room, a report has claimed.
The situation at Austrian manufacturer has deteriorated in the last year, with the performance of their previously dominant RB20 diminishing towards the end of last season and the organisation shedding key personnel, including design guru Adrian Newey.
Rumours of a rift between star driver Max Verstappen, his father Jos and Horner have been rife for some time and the performance of this season’s car has done little to lighten the mood. The RB21 looks to be the fourth best car in the field and may prove too difficult for even Verstappen to mount a title challenge in.
Therefore it comes as little surprise to discover that things are somewhat off in Milton Keynes. According to journalist Nate Saunders, speaking on ESPN’s Unlapped podcast, the ‘weird vibe’ is only exacerbated by the appearance of Verstappen Sr.
‘I mean, I’ve been in the Red Bull hospitality and it can be weird,’ he said. ‘And I think Laurence will attest to this as well, there’s just a weird vibe down there.
‘Especially when Jos Verstappen’s in town as well, because you have all of these big figures down at Red Bull and you can tell they’re just kind of side-eyeing each other.
Red Bull Racing’s ‘bizarre atmosphere’ reportedly sees staff ‘tense up’ when chiefs Christian Horner (right) and Helmut Marko (left) walk into the room
The Austrian manufacturer – whose UK headquarters is in Milton Keynes – have endured a tough past year
Marko admitted that there is ‘great concern’ over the future of Max Verstappen amid their struggling machinery
‘Marko will walk in or Horner will walk in and you can see people tense up a little bit. There is a bizarre atmosphere down there.’
Earlier this week, Verstappen’s future at Red Bull was thrown into sharp focus by Marko, who said the team had ‘great concerns’ over whether the world’s most valuable driver would remain with them for years to come.
Verstappen is signed up until 2028 and has said that Red Bull is where he wants to remain.
However, as Mail Sport reported on last week, the quadruple F1 champion has a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave if he were lower than third in the drivers’ standings. That clause, a source has indicated, could be activated in the summer.
Verstappen only finished sixth in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix, won by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, and lies third in the championship table, eight points short of leader Lando Norris, who was third in Sakhir.
Commenting on Verstappen’s future, Red Bull’s motorsport director Marko, 81, told Sky Germany: ‘The concern is great. Improvements have to come in the near future so that he has a car with which he can win again.
‘We have to create a basis with a car so that he can fight for the world championship.’
Mercedes and Aston Martin remain among his leading suitors. Verstappen could get a drive anywhere as by far the most desirable driving commodity on the grid.