Tension is in the Air, Can Red Bull Fight Through Adversity in 2024?

Red Bull F1 Racing has dominated the sport in recent years, and quickly became the team to beat after taking the crown in 2021. Now with three straight drivers championships and a 1-2 finish in the 2023 championship. Red Bull has kicked off 2024 in familiar fashion with yet another 1-2 finish in the season opener in Bahrain. However, this success has also come with challenges off of the track.

The latest scandal involved team principal Christian Horner. Horner was accused of inappropriate conduct which was later dismissed by a third party investigation. Shortly after an anonymous whistleblower shared a series of messages with a number of people in the F1 paddock circle. The sender claimed the messages to be evidence of Horner’s alleged transgressions. However, the validity of this evidence is very much in question. Horner continues to deny any wrong doing and would not speculate on them. There is nothing thus far proving that any of these messages were sent to or by Horner. The rumor mill continues to spread on social media despite no new facts being released about the case. For now its innocent until proven guilty for Horner.

Pressure is Mounting Regarding Verstappen’s Future

In addition to the internal pressures Red Bull has faced. They also are the center focus for external concerns. There are rumors that Max Verstappen’s father has been in talks with Mercedes regarding an exit clause in Verstappen’s contract. Regardless of if this is true a move to Mercedes seems like the exact opposite of what Verstappen would want to continue his winning ways. Mercedes has struggled over the last two seasons and if Bahrain was any indication of the gap to Red Bull it would be a step down in performance for Verstappen to leave. Toto Wolff admittedly described the opening round as underwhelming.

“Our race in Bahrain was best described as underwhelming. We were hopeful of a stronger showing after our performance in practice and qualifying. Both drivers were pleased with the balance earlier in the weekend, and the more stable platform provided by the W15.

Unfortunately on Saturday evening, our cooling performance didn’t match our predictions. That forced us into management mode early on, which had the knock-on impact of reducing tire temperatures below optimum. That cost us the opportunity to show something closer to our true potential. It was a frustrating way to start the season but one we will learn from.”

Whether Verstappen would make such a move is unknown but given his continued success and dominance at Red Bull he doesn’t seem too keen on leaving the winning side as of now. If Mercedes can turn around their performance woes in 2024 this discussion might become more realistic but for now its just a rumor.

Is the Red Bull -Ford Relationship Strained?

In addition to the other off track pressure mounting in the Red Bull camp. It is clear that Ford was not happy with the lack of transparency during the Horner investigation. Despite Horner being cleared of any wrongdoing. There are more rumors circulating that Ford wants to pull out of their power unit deal set for 2026. Our sources confirm that these rumors are completely false and have no merit. However, that hasn’t stopped social media fans from fueling the fire.

Whether this is a witch hunt to knock the top team off of their A game or purely speculation. One thing that’s certain is Red Bull will need to be more focused now than ever if they want to repeat last year’s result.

Red Bull picked up where they left off in the drivers and constructors championship with a repeat of last years Bahrain Grand Prix finishing 1-2. Verstappen finished 22 seconds ahead of Perez with Perez leading the pair of Ferraris in 3rd and 4th place. The early weekend pace of the Mercedes proved to be a fluke as the Mercedes weren’t able to keep up with the front runners; having to settle for 5th and 7th.

“It’s unbelievable,” said race-winner Verstappen. “I think today went even better than expected. I think the car was really nice to drive, on every [tire] compound I think we had a lot of pace. It was just super enjoyable to drive today, we really stayed out of trouble and it’s a great start to the year – it couldn’t have been better.”

The McLarens seem to have gotten the best of Aston Martin as the two teams tangle for the top 4 designation. Aston Martin finished P9 and P10. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were well behind on pace when compared to the McLarens. The team will need to bounce back in the next round so they don’t find themselves in a hole they can’t climb out of.

Haas Improves, Williams Back to the Bottom

Haas had a poor outing during practice and qualifying this weekend. However, Kevin Magnussen led the charge during the Bahrain Grand Prix to secure a P12 finish. While the effort wasn’t a point scoring one Haas seems to have found something in terms of performance that they just didn’t have last year. With the exit of Guenther Steiner and the promotion of Ayao Komatsu to team Principal. Haas is looking to turn their fortunes around and start scoring championship points again. The pressure on Haas is at an all time high to perform as they have not had a successful season in recent years.

Williams had another unfortunate outing with Alex Albon finishing P15 and Logan Sargeant finishing dead last on the grid 2 laps behind the leaders. It appears that Williams hasn’t made any progress during the offseason. Questions will be raised as to whether Sargeant is still the man for the seat as he has failed to launch a presence in F1 since his debut.

Racing Bulls Fail to Score Points in Opener

The 2023 season ended in controversy for the Racing Bulls when reserve driver Liam Lawson was denied a seat with the team after outperforming Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo in the races he participated in. Ricciardo and Tsunoda once again failed to score points in the season opener. Every race that goes by without points scored will raise tensions in the Racing Bulls camp leaving questions around whether they chose the right drivers for their seats.

Now that the dust has settled in Bahrain the teams go back to the factory to analyze where they stand in the pecking order as work on 2024 upgrades begins. The next race is Sakhir in Jeddah for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from March 7-9. 

Full Bahrain Grand Prix Results Are Below

The Red Bulls have been outside of the top 5 all weekend in practice but Max Verstappen put down a 1m29.179s lap which allowed him to seal pole position in Bahrain ahead of Charles Leclerc and George Russell. Leclerc finished 3 tenths behind Verstappen in what seems all but a bad dream for Ferrari. After dominating 2023 the Red Bulls had split results in the first qualifying session of the 2024 season. Sergio Perez Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate ran a best fifth fastest in Q3.

Mercedes Has Mixed Emotions On the Qualifying Result in Bahrain

Emotions were mixed in the Mercedes camp. George Russell appeared to find some pace on his closing laps to secure his spot on the second row. However, questions have been raised about Lewis Hamilton’s pace. It’s not clear if he is still fighting the car similar to the last two years. Hamilton said, “I struggled throughout Qualifying as we have in the past couple of years.

The car is feeling really great, but I just went a little bit in a direction to help my race pace. I wasn’t feeling as comfortable with that yesterday so that was the focus. I’ve definitely sacrificed more single-lap performance than I hoped too but I hope that pays off tomorrow.

It’s a lot of work to do to get past a lot of quick cars that are starting ahead of me, but I’m sure it’ll be fun. George’s position and the pace he showed today really highlights, and is a real testament, to the team. It shows just how hard everyone has worked over the winter. It’s amazing for us to have a car that we can fight with. It reignites the fire and the flame within us drivers. For me today, Bono and everyone else did a great job.”

George Russell Offered his Thoughts on the session

“Everybody at the factory has done a great job to give Lewis and I a car that we are much happier with. It’s a base that we can build upon. We’ve still got some catching up to do to be at the very front, but starting P3 for tomorrow’s race is a good place to be.”

Charles Leclerc Was Disappointed With Missing Out On Pole

“It was a good qualifying after what has been quite a tricky weekend,” said Leclerc. “We tried a few things in the free practice sessions and I found the sweet spot in qualifying. We went out on a set of used tires at first in Q3 which compromised our rhythm a bit, before switching to a new set but overall, it feels like we are in a better place than we were at the start of last year…We have to wait and see where we stand in terms of race pace and Red Bull still seem to be a step ahead of the rest of the pack. I’ll take any opportunity we have.”

The Ferraris are looking to bounce back after a disappointing year in 2023 that saw them win just one race. The Scuderia will have their work cut out for them in tomorrows race. The Aston Martins who saw early season success in 2023 couldn’t find the pace to set themselves up for good starting track position. Fernando Alonso will start P6 with teammate Lance Stroll not making it out of Q2 and starting P12. To add insult to injury Stroll was out qualified by both McLarens with Lando Norris finishing P7 and Oscar Piastri finishing P8. Tomorrow will be the true metric to determine if Verstappen will dominate the field like last year or of its someone else’s turn to rise to the occasion.

Full Qualifying Results from Bahrain Below

Formula 1 action kicked off today in Bahrain as the start of the 2024 season has finally arrived. FP1 and FP2 took lace today and Mercedes appears to be the front runners. No one in the F1 paddock expected Mercedes to start off so strong. Given the performance of their 2023 car many questions were raised as to how they would fair this season. Mercedes finishing 1-2 in FP2 well ahead of 2023 champion Max Verstappen.

Mercedes Drivers Comment on the Session

Lewis Hamilton

“It was very windy in FP1, and the track was very different to during the test. We didn’t know exactly where we would stack up against everyone else, but we had a positive FP2 session. The car was feeling good, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves. We know there is more to extract, and our long run pace isn’t in the fight with the Red Bulls.”
 
Overall though, I’m feeling much happier with the car than last year. We’ve made some good improvements and it feels much more like a race car. It’s a really good platform for us to build from. We just need to keep our heads down and keep chasing.

George Russell

“We’re not going to get carried away after one day of practice. Our qualifying pace did look strong. We made some changes from the test and the improvement exceeded our expectations. But ultimately our long run pace is where it counts. Verstappen looked comfortably quickest, and it was very tight with the Ferraris, the McLarens, and the Aston Martins. So we’ve likely got a real fight on our hands there.
 
Nevertheless, we’re pleased with how our day has gone; the car is performing well. We will sit down and understand where the main improvements came from and try to sustain that. We want to be fighting for good positions on Saturday night.”

The Aston Martin’s again looked strong in the session with Fernando Alonso finishing third fastest. FP3 will be more telling regarding true pace as the teams will begin testing their qualifying pace setups ahead of qualifying. Haas continues to struggle running at the bottom of the table despite a change in leadership with Guenther Steiner’s exit. More to come from this weekend.

Full FP2 Results from the Bahrain Grand Prix Weekend

One day after Christian Horner was cleared of any wrong doing in the latest inappropriate behavior investigation. The latest turn in this case involves an anonymous email that has been sent to multiple high ranking individuals in the F1 paddock. The messages at first glance appear to be screenshots of What’s App conversations between Horner and the plaintiff. However, the validity of these screenshots is very much in question as their source has not yet been verified.

After viewing the screenshots, there does not appear to be anything specifically damning for Horner in the conversations captured. However, given their questionable source and timing of release it appears that there could be more at play here. Despite this, no actions will be taken by Red Bull at this time. Horner again denied the allegation and would not give any validity to the messages. “I won’t comment on anonymous speculation,” said Horner, “but to reiterate, I have always denied the allegations. I respected the integrity of the independent investigation and fully cooperated with it every step of the way.”

A Red Bull GmbH spokesperson stated: “The independent investigation into the allegations made against Mr. Horner is complete, and Red Bull can confirm that the grievance has been dismissed.” We will continue to assess whether the files received are valid and if this evidence will have any bearing on this case.

While the investigation into recent allegations against Christian Horner raised eye brows across the world. The worries from Red Bull can now be put to bed. Horner has been cleared of any wrong doing and will continue his role as Team Principal with Red Bull. The team’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH initiated an external investigation into rumored allegations of inappropriate behaviors, aggressive leadership style and rumored sexual misconduct. However, these accusations have been deemed baseless and Horner can put all of his focus into the season opener.

Red Bull released the following, “The independent investigation into the allegations made against Mr. Horner is complete, and Red Bull can confirm that the grievance has been dismissed. The complainant has a right of appeal.

Red Bull is confident that the investigation has been fair, rigorous and impartial. The investigation report is confidential and contains the private information of the parties and third parties who assisted in the investigation, and therefore we will not be commenting further out of respect for all concerned. Red Bull will continue striving to meet the highest workplace standards.”

The decision comes after Red Bull has received continued pressure from their partner auto manufacturer Ford. Whether the relationship has been strained is yet to be determined. Horner has traveled to Bahrain for the season opened set for this weekend. For now its business as usual at the Red Bull camp as they put this problem behind them.

Ferrari displayed significant performance gains from their 2023 campaign after topping the tables in the pre season test. The Ferraris always seemed to have the pace last year, but questionable strategy calls and misfortune plagued their 2023 season. It’s clear that the Ferrari camp is looking to put those woes behind and be the team that brings it to the Red Bulls who have shown no signs of slowing down.

Ferrari Top the Table on Day 2 and 3 of Testing

After Carlos Sainz topped day 2 of testing, Charles Leclerc stepped up to the top on day 3 for Ferrari. Leclcerc said, “Still difficult to known where we are. Gone through our program, no major issues. Good thing is no major surprises. Everything we expected we got, so that is good. Helps the guys to develop the car, everything seems to make sense.

How competitive we are, it’s difficult to understand. My feeling is that Red Bull are ahead. We have a stronger base compared to last year. Last year, it was difficult to understand which direction to develop. Very different story this year, know where we need to improve, gives us more hope.”

An analysis done by F1.com estimates the race pace of the grid as follows :

1. Red Bull
2. Mercedes +0.20s
3. Ferrari +0.22s
4. McLaren +0.43s
5. Aston Martin +0.62s
6. RB +0.73s
7. Sauber +1.09s
8. Alpine +1.09s
9. Williams + 1.25
10. Haas +1.49s

McLaren Beats Out Aston Martin

Aston Martin and McLaren find themselves in an ongoing shootout for the “best top 4” title that seems to house every championship worthy team every year. Both Aston Martin and McLaren had triumphs and defeats in 2023. However, after the short winter break it seems McLaren have found an edge. Lando Norris even hinted at the direction the team is thinking about. McLaren wants to be fighting with Mercedes and Red Bull. “A few setbacks over last few days,” Norris said. Not the end of world but always want a perfect day, we didn’t get any long running yesterday so moved it to this morning but we didn’t get it done. Not what we wanted but still a lot learned.

We’ve taken a step forward, made a lot of things better, but we never really know compared to others. We’re in a good position, had a decent car at end of last season, taken step in right direction. We’re still a long way behind Red Bull and Ferrari. Plenty of work still to achieve, but plenty learned in last few days.”

Haas Still Has No Answers

After three days of testing the F1.com analysis puts them just under 1.5 seconds behind the Red Bulls. Over the course of a race that time differential could reach numbers of laps. The team however, felt the test was positive.

Ayao Komatsu – Team Principal:

“So today we completed our first qualifying sim, looking at the low-fuel car balance, and then we completed two race simulations – one with Kevin, one with Nico. We successfully achieved all of this, despite the track issues today. It’s been a very, very good day basically. Our race simulations show that yes, we’ve got lots more work to do, but at the same time we’ve got a base car that we can actually race. Considering the qualifying performance – we haven’t worked on it at all, today was our first time looking at it, but again, it was decent. We’ve had a very good start to the season with all this preparation in testing. I’m very happy and my thanks to everyone on the team.”

Full Day 3 of F1 Pre Season Testing Results

19 drivers participated in the final day of testing. Logan Sargeant was the only drive who did not set a lap time on day 3.

Calros Sainz picked up the pace on day 2 of testing in Bahrain to top the table. Only 17 drivers participated on day 2. Max Verstappen, Alex Albon and George Russell all sat out of day 2. The morning session was cut short after a drain cover came up and concrete debris littered the track. When the the debris was cleared the drivers got back to business with Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez logging over 120 laps each.

The afternoon session was extended one hour for the lost time in the morning. Despite this Sainz was still able to edge a 0.7s advantage over Sergio Perez’s fastest lap. Sainz has had an up and down off season. His future at Ferrari is done after this season with the signing of Hamilton. 2024 is his year to prove he has what it takes to make one last run at the title and secure a seat for 2025. Tomorrow is the third and final day of testing.

Results from Day 2 of Testing

Max Verstappen picked up where he left off in 2023 on day one of testing in Bahrain. It was the debut of the new RB20 which features a number of changes from last year’s car. Verstappen logged 143 laps on the day and had a brief exchange at the top with McLaren man Lando Norris who’s fastest time was 1.1 seconds behind Verstappen. If this result carries through the weekend Verstappen may once again as the man to beat in 2024.

Verstappen said: “It feels good to be back in an F1 car again and I had fun out on track today. We covered a lot of laps and tried quite a few things with the car, which was important, so happy overall with how it went. After the winter break, the first few laps always surprise you a little but then you get back into the swing of things pretty quickly. Overall, the car was responding well and considering this was only testing we had a nice day. Looking to tomorrow, we are speaking to our engineers about what the plans will be, but I am looking forward to getting into the car in the afternoon.”

Positive Day for RB, Haas Struggles Continue

Daniel Ricciardo led the way for RB finishing just behind the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz; 4th fastest. The RB appears to have found a new swing of pace and confidence. The VCARB 01 program has undergone multiple personnel changes so it will be intriguing to see if they can continue this pace moving forward over then next couple of days. Yuki Tsnoda didn’t quite keep up on day one but the team seems satisfied with the performance of both drivers on day one of testing.

Haas ended the day at the bottom of the table on day one in Bahrain. Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenburg were over 4.5 seconds slower than Verstappen. If Haas are going to turn things around they will need to find some chemistry with the Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez did not set a time on day one of the test.

Full Day One Results Are Below

The Red Bull F1 Racing team principal attended the launch of the RB20; business as usual. Of course many questions still remain surrounding the details around the allegations of controlling and inappropriate behavior. However, it appears the investigation is still ongoing leaving fans with many questions as to the true severity of the allegations. Christian Horner has made it clear he denies all allegations and will not step down from his post. His appearance at the Red Bull Launch is a positive sign for his future with the team. Horner answered a slue of questions but a few of the following came from the media.

Q: You are in a situation (where) the chief executive might expect to be suspended while the allegations were investigated. Why hasn’t that been the process that has been taken at Red Bull? 

I think it’s been very clear. In the position of Red Bull, it has been business as normal, of course. (Investigating) the allegations is a process that Red Bull are running through, and (then confirming) that process externally, but you know, obviously there’s a job to do and I denied fully the accusations and my role obviously continues.

Q: Has it been a distraction?

Look, I think moments of uncertainty brings us together and I’ve never seen a team more together and supporting than (Red Bull) is. Everybody’s focused on one thing, which is the performance of that car to go out and defend both the world titles that we’ve worked so hard to achieve over the last couple of years. So the car is what everybody is invested in and I look forward to seeing it in action in Bahrain next week.

Q: What does the future look like? Do you see yourself still doing this job long term?

I’m absolutely committed to this team. I’ve been here since the beginning. I’ve built this team. There’s been highs and lows along the way. We have won 113 races. Won seven drivers’ world championships. We’ve won six constructors’ world championships in 19 seasons, and you know, that’s in the history books. But it’s what lies ahead – because that’s what’s important. So my focus is on the future. It’s on Red Bull Powertrains becoming a startup engine business. We have an advanced technology business system producing the first ever Red Bull track car and of course, there’s a lot going on the campus.

One thing that’s clear is Horner feels very confident that the allegations against him are a distraction. He appears to be fully cooperating and is business as usually which could be a positive for his future with Red Bull.