There’s turmoil at Red Bull Racing, and the team says… absolutely nothing

After a dismal start to the season, turmoil has returned within Red Bull Racing. There appears to be no clear idea how to improve the RB22 of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, while part of the staff is complaining about the working methods, so much so that one of the leading faces in the garage has handed in his resignation with immediate effect. GPblog has already reported that it cannot be ruled out that more people will follow.

For the Austrians’ image, this is anything but ideal and so there should be full-scale crisis communication: ‘How do we get the media to report positively about Red Bull Racing again?’

But how does the communications department actually respond to all this? In a very simple way: it does not. There's complete, pin-drop silence.

In Shanghai, after the Chinese Grand Prix, there was no time given for a previously announced media session with Laurent Mekies to hear from the team boss why things had gone so wrong for his squad. The team boss never came, nor did his press officer. Journalists, including from GPblog, were told by hospitality staff that the Frenchman was on his way to the airport.

Silence seems to be the motto in recent weeks anyway. As soon as questions arise about, for example, the departing Ole Schack, there is a days-long silence, after which a response comes only under some pressure, stating that there will be no comment.

Various international media are currently ‘complaining’ about how questions from journalists are being handled.

Most striking to outside observers was the way Red Bull reacted to the incident involving Verstappen and a British journalist during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend. As is known, Verstappen sent the reporter away because he still had some resentment after an incident at the end of last season.

Undoubtedly, Verstappen had not run his plan past his communications team in advance; it happened in the heat of the moment. It’s understandable that the press officer present did not want to take a position on what unfolded before her eyes.

Yet after the press session ended and a media storm erupted, there was still no one at Red Bull Racing who tried to defuse the situation. As a result, the incident is still simmering in the international media more than a week later, with all the negative consequences in PR terms.

Many journalists are currently looking back with nostalgia at the Christian Horner era, when, through his loyal press chief Paul Smith, he knew where and how to feed the media with tidbits. As is well known, Horner is gone, and Smith was also made to leave in his wake. Alice Hedworth then temporarily took over Smith’s duties, but she too has since been shown the door.

Increasingly, Red Bull GmbH has taken the reins, apparently including the communications department. It’s well known that the Red Bull headquarters prefers silence over speaking, especially with the media. That seems to be the maxim carried over to the Formula 1 team, precisely at a time when an honest story would do more good than harm.