Chris
Rumors of internal conflict within the Red Bull Racing team seem to be getting hotter by the day, despite denials from team principal Christian Horner in a recent interview. As per a report from F1-Insider, the team boss tried to appoint Bradley Lord – the chief of communications at Mercedes in a political move to claim full control of the team’s F1 operations.
The report suggests that there is a “civil war” within the Milton Keynes outfit ahead of the United States Grand Prix in Austin this weekend, with Horner looking to stretch his area of control in F1 by getting rid of team advisor Dr Helmut Marko.
By doing so, he will be in charge of not only Red Bull but also sister team AlphaTauri because apparently, “just being team boss at Red Bull is no longer enough” for Horner.
Marko was a close aide of the company’s founder Dietrich Mateschitz, who died a year ago, thus leading him to be easy prey to internal politics. However, he still retains the support of his new boss Oliver Mintzlaff.
It is shockingly reported that “Horner had planned and is still planning the coup.” He even went to the extent of seeking support from Red Bull’s 51 percent shareholders from Thailand before trying to recruit Lord as the new team principal of AlphaTauri. But, that didn’t go as planned.
So Horner lent his support to the new CEO of AlphaTauri Peter Bayer. Rather cleverly, Marko took the call to hire Laurent Mekies as the team’s new boss who is said to take his seat in 2024.
Adding further, the report claims that a meeting between Marko and Mintzlaff took place where Horner’s “role was discussed.” Interestingly, Mintzlaff will be present in the paddock this weekend in Austin.
While Max Verstappen already pledged his loyalty to Marko with Mintzlaff, Horner recently brushed aside claims of a conflict within the team. He told the Mirror Sport
