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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, 1st position, waves from his cockpit as fans turn the air orange in celebration
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Opinion

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.

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