The culture clash at the heart of Red Bull's stalled Porsche partnership
OPINION: From the moment talk of Red Bull teaming up with Porsche in Formula 1 started it sounded like a match made in heaven. But as the situation became clearer the devil in the detail put the partnership into doubt, with the two sides wanting different things
Red Bull was a disruptive force when it blew its way into Formula 1 in 2005. From the ashes of a Jaguar team muzzled by corporate obliviousness - famously, Ford overlords in Detroit were unaware why millions were being paid to a 'Mr E Irvine' - here grew a lithe operation. It turned up the music, constructed the 'Energy Station' in the paddock and presented its unashamedly vibrant self, while Christian Horner was by some way the youngest team principal.
Seventeen years later, the marketing department still works hard to sell a similar image. Think of the squad’s grand prix drivers racing Aston Martins while towing caravans or the spectacle of putting a set of snow chains on an RB7 before sending it up a ski slope. How about the Red Bulletin from this year’s Austrian GP, which ran a cartoon of sustainability superhero ‘Sensibleman’. This was the tale of Sebastian Vettel, his eyepatch-wearing cat sidekick Doctor M and archnemesis Smog Demon, otherwise known as F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali.
Share Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.