How Mateschitz's death ignited a power struggle at Red Bull Racing
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Co-author:Olly Darcy
Hidde Korte is an editor at GPblog, specializing in Formula 1 news. With a background in journalism and a strong passion for the sport, he delivers timely and reliable coverage of the pinnacle of motorsport.
Viaplay commentator Nelson Valkenburg delved into the situation at Red Bull Racing, believing the problems for the team can be traced back to the passing of Dietrich Mateschitz.
2024 and 2025 saw the Austrian team drop down the grid after dominating the 2023 season, culminating in Christian Horner's sacking after 20 years as team principal.
The commentator discussed on the Nailing the Apex-podcast from SDPN the influence that Mateschitz had on the team's results and reacted to Horner's role.
"I think you can all trace this back to when Mateschitz actually passed away. He held sway over that relationship, and there were never any internal struggles. There wasn't a strife that bubbled up between Horner and Helmut Marko. There wasn't a problem between Thailand and Austria.
‘’Everything changed when Mateschitz passed away, since then we have been witnessing a power struggle for some time. On one side, you had Austria with Helmut Marko and Max Verstappen, and on the other side, you had Christian Horner.’’
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Christian Horner has been the latest key figure of Red Bull to leave, with Max Verstappen's future at the Austrian team also being a topic of discussion
Horner has been under fire for a long time
The former team principal of Red Bull has been under scrutiny for some time after the alleged case of transgressive behaviour.
This hung over Horner like a dark cloud, and since then, the problems have been mounting, Valkenburg believes, resulting in the downward spiral that now sees Red Bull sit fourth in the constructors' championship in 2025.
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‘’Then last year, as you say, 18 months ago, it all kicked off with allegations made to Christian Horner. Two internal investigations cleared him, but the damage was done to his persona.
"People were leaving the team. It just may have all become too much, but I would have found it more logical had he been sacked 18 months ago," concluded the Formula 1 commentator.
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