F1 | Is Max an instrument of pressure or is the first PU Red Bull feared?

A month after the explosion, the “Red Bull Horner” case has expanded to the point of incorporating other events now embedded in a mosaic that is shaking the Red Bull world. The affair which saw the team principal and CEO of Red Bull Racing held accountable for inappropriate behavior with an employee was discussed internally within the Austrian group, with Horner's acquittal. While Red Bull's lawyers, Horner and the employee clarified what happened, there were those who used the scenario created to pursue other objectives, adding other critical issues to the original problem.

The Horner case has become instrumental for other targets, an opportunity to fulfill wishes that were smoldering under the ashes. The latest outing on the matter was that of Jos Verstappen, reported by the Daily Mail newspaper, to which the former driver declared that he saw the team at risk of explosion if Horner remained in his place. The world champion's father took a clear position on the case, contrasting himself with the figure of the current team principal with a message that can be interpreted as an either/or.

Curiously, the public outing of Verstappen sr. it coincided with the rumors of a preliminary negotiation that Jos would have started with Toto Wolff, a prelude to a potential move to Mercedes. However, there are two different versions of this indiscretion.

The first scenario is a Max Verstappen who is not exactly confident in view of the three-year period 2026/28 (the last three seasons which his contract signed two years ago with Red Bull provides for) in which he will have to use the power unit designed and built in Milton Keynes by the new powertrain department.

From this perspective, a move to Mercedes could be strategic and would potentially launch Max among those who have confirmed themselves as multiple champions driving with more than one team. For Wolff, being able to snatch Verstappen from Red Bull would be a double blow of great significance: replacing Hamilton with a driver of absolute weight and at the same time taking away one of his most important assets from his first opponent.

Jos Verstappen with Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team

Photo by: Jon Noble

However, there are also those who claim that it is a great hoax. The prospect of Verstappen moving to Mercedes is a source of further pressure on the Red Bull group, already struggling with the well-known ongoing events, and a further burden on Horner's still precarious situation. In support of this hypothesis there is the way in which Horner and Wolff spoke to each other in the Sakhir paddock (in favor of cameras) or the dinner at the restaurant of the Four Season Hotel in Manama (where many team leaders stayed) where they did not avoid the possibility of being seen by prying eyes, which promptly happened.

What would Mercedes have to gain in this 'game'? A shoulder to Horner at a moment in which the great opponent is wobbling. The rust of 2021 has not yet disappeared, and it cannot be ruled out that the affair involving Susie Wolff last December could also have an impact.

Zak Brown and Wolff himself were the two clearest team principals in asking Formula 1 to clarify this case, underlining the damage to the image that affects the entire circus. The game is political, the moral aspect of the Horner affair is a weapon used ad hoc to pursue other goals that have little to do with the motivations exposed in the press conferences expressly used by the media, the new battlefield.