When the 2024 season started, Red Bull appeared to pick up where they left 2023 off — with complete domination. Max Verstappen won seven out of the opening ten races, paving the way for what many felt would be another comfortable title victory, both for him and the Milton-Keynes-based outfit. Unfortunately, the road ahead was rocky and full of obstacles.
Red Bull soon developed issues with its car performance, particularly balance, which affected Verstappen‘s ability to fight for wins. At the same time, its rivals — who spent the better part of a year looking at Red Bull’s rear wing — saw a resurgence, with development hitting the right spots.
McLaren became the fastest team on the grid, followed by Ferrari and both of them ended the Championship ahead of Red Bull. This made F1 expert Edd Straw wary of how the Austrian squad would fare come 2025.
“I’ve got a few concerns with how they are working technically,” The Race F1 journalist said. “I think they took a slightly incorrect direction conceptually, and there is a chance to reset things next years.”
Straw admitted that he wouldn’t count Red Bull out, but ‘everything’ going on in the team — driver and staff exits and backstage politics involving Team Principal Christian Horner — has raised his concern level.
“Red Bull has been this spectacularly well-oiled machine that has worked incredibly well, and it’s just losing a little bit of that. There’s just a little bit of decay.”
A lot of problems were brushed under the carpet as the season went on, but heading into 2025, these tensions remain largely unsolved.
What’s going wrong at Red Bull?
In 2024, Red Bull had to bid farewell to Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley, two crucial figures in the technical department who guided their team to huge success since its inception. Reportedly, people internally were not happy with them losing out on such important people.
Plus, Horner was involved in controversy at the start of the season when an employee lodged an ‘inappropriate’ behavior complaint against the Briton. This caused a massive storm in the world of F1, and particularly with Max Verstappen’s entourage.
We are watching the collapse of a team.
Incredible.
Newey, Wheatley, who else? https://t.co/v3UuqGhoaV
— Dan – EngineMode11 (@EngineMode11) August 1, 2024
The four-time world champion’s father publicly berated Horner, calling him the reason behind Red Bull’s downfall. Reports of Verstappen wanting to leave emerged thereafter, and although they have died out since, the 27-year-old may not want to continue with a team not competing for wins.
Thankfully, these issues did not create much of a problem in 2024 for Verstappen personally. He fought hard, but managed to win the Championship again, despite having an under-par car at his disposal. He assured his team that he would be on course to repeat the feat in 2025, only if they take care of the technical side of things.
