Verstappen, Horner: Red Bull's first two-speed weekend in Bahrain

“I was one with the car. » A sentence that every Formula 1 driver dreams of saying at the end of a race. The problem ? It comes from the mouth of Max Verstappen and it is very bad for the morale of the nineteen other drivers on the field. F1 returned to Bahrain this weekend, and it hasn't changed. The Batavian ogre, with three world titles under his belt and 19 victories under his belt in 2023, has eagerly resumed the year 2024.

Friday, he signed an authoritarian pole against a hungry pack led by the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz or the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. On Saturday, the Dutchman confirmed that he was still the master of the game on this immense chessboard, winning in Sakhir with disconcerting ease ahead of Sergio Pérez and Carlos Sainz and the best round as a bonus. A fantastic debut for the Austrian brand. On the track. Behind the scenes, Red Bull finds itself at the heart of a storm that could have repercussions in the future.

At the beginning of February, De Telegraaf, a Dutch daily, revealed that Christian Horner, the boss of the Red Bull team since 2005, was suspected of having engaged in “inappropriate behavior” towards an assistant. The latter filed a complaint, triggering an internal investigation and a real media storm. Horner, star of the Netflix series Drive to Survive, found himself on the front lines. Quickly, the man who had just been elevated to the rank of Commander of the Order of the British Empire denied it and refused to make any comment for “legal reasons”. But the investigation interfered with the pre-season tests (February 21-23) and the “Horner affair” took precedence over the athlete. Not to the taste of the world of F1, booming since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Toto Wolff, director of the Mercedes team, and Zak Brown, president of McLaren, then demanded more clarity from the FIA ​​and F1 and, above all, a resolution of the problem before the start of the season. On Wednesday, the day before the first free practice session, Red Bull announced that the boss had been cleared following the internal investigation. On Thursday, Horner declared himself “happy that the procedure is over”, while remaining restrained in the paddock, surely hoping that the matter will settle down. Lack. Thursday evening, emails were sent by an anonymous source to journalists and team directors with documents from the file compiled for the internal investigation. The machine was restarted.

This is surely why Saturday's victory was celebrated without pomp, far from usual. Because the consequences of this affair could be unfortunate for Red Bull and its boss. “I don’t fear for my future,” said the Englishman after the race. He retains the support of Chalerm Yoovidhya, Thai shareholder and majority of RB, present in Bahrain, but faces the internal clan led by Helmut Marko, Oliver Mintzlaff and Jos Verstappen, father of Max. The latter also put the pressure on in an interview given to the Daily Mail: “The tension will remain in the team as long as he (Horner) remains in place. We can't continue like this. It's going to explode. »

Coincidence or not, the affair was revealed by a Dutch daily and the leaks prove that certain people within the Austrian team want Horner's head. For his part, Max quickly broke away from this story but the question of his future could arise if the case drags on - the complainant can appeal. Even more so if Ford, Red Bull's new engine supplier from 2026, and which has hardly enjoyed this bad publicity, also started to ask questions.