Two (and a bit) years on: Red Bull's 2024 political ructions have had the opposite effect

I'm not really much of a listener of Formula 1-themed podcasts, as it's a bit of a busman's holiday at the best of times. Whatever compelled me to listen to Sergio Perez's appearance on the High Performance Podcast on a Sunday afternoon on the way to the supermarket was a mystery. And yet, here we were, eschewing the usual whimsical podcasts and usual rotation of Getdown Services EPs on the trip to Tesco.

Fronted by ex-BBC F1 host Jake Humphrey, his podcast has managed to generate enough pull to gather a fair complement of F1 guests, offering some pretty insightful commentary on their life in the championship.

Perez spoke relatively candidly about a few subjects: coming to Europe at a young age to seek his fortune, having to become au fait with the UK law system to push Force India towards administration to save the team from a winding-up order from an unpaid supplier and, later, his switch to Red Bull after losing his drive at the Silverstone squad on the cusp of transforming into Aston Martin. Perez theorised that without his surprise victory at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, held on the outer perimeter of the Bahrain circuit (hey F1, how about bringing that back?), he'd not have been in contention to replace Alex Albon at the team. 

Initially, the Mexican had perhaps been the strongest team-mate that Verstappen had faced since Daniel Ricciardo left. It wasn't so much that he'd only got one win in 2021, with victory at his perennial happy-hunting-ground in Baku, but what he did for Verstappen in the, erm, contentious Abu Dhabi finale in providing his team-mate with a slipstream for pole, and later holding up Lewis Hamilton to give his team-mate a hand. The title of 'Mexican Minister of Defence' was bestowed upon Perez, who hoped that 2022's regulatory reset would present a chance to push Verstappen more closely.

After a solid 2022, where Perez won twice and captured a flurry of podiums throughout the year - albeit still as Verstappen's dutiful No. 2 - he opened 2023 in swaggering form and genuinely looked like he might take the title fight to his team-mate in the early stages. Both Red Bull drivers, equipped with the mighty RB19, had two wins apiece after the opening four rounds. Perez then took pole for Miami when Verstappen failed to set a time, but this was the turning point; the Dutchman caught and passed Perez in the latter stages of the race, despite starting a lowly ninth. The Mexican's head appeared to drop after that point, finding himself battling against inferior machinery as Verstappen scorched to victory after victory in one of the most dominant seasons ever conceived.

In his recent podcast appearance, Perez reiterated a line that he'd given back in 2023 - that then-boss Christian Horner told him that Red Bull was pretty much a one-car team, and running with two cars out of necessity. "The first time I met Christian, he told me, 'We go racing with two cars because we have to, otherwise we would be super happy just to race with one car. Everything is for Max, around Max. We want to win the championship'," he stated.

A united front: Red Bull luxuriated in its 2023 title win - and then the spanner entered the works

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

The lack of stability in the second car didn't help. When Ricciardo departed for Renault, perhaps sensing that the power in the team was beginning to shift away, Pierre Gasly was dropped into the car and immediately struggled with the pointy front-end that Verstappen found easy to work with. When Gasly's performances weren't viewed as up to scratch, Albon was drafted in after half a season - and had exactly the same issues as his predecessor.

Perez, with more experience, looked like he could handle the car. But the consensus over 2023 was that, as the upgrades to the RB19 made Verstappen more happy with the car's handling, the confidence shifted away from Perez somewhat. The same could be said of 2024, although that year's RB20 became too extreme for Verstappen - who branded it an "undriveable monster". And so, Red Bull reverted to type after Perez was let go at the end of the year; Liam Lawson lasted two races, was swapped for Yuki Tsunoda, and neither truly had the opportunity to adapt to the nature of the Red Bull package.

Let's backtrack a second; if Perez's assertion that Red Bull was tailored to Verstappen is correct, then it's interesting to see the team's progression from there. In the former nucleus of Horner, Helmut Marko, Adrian Newey, Gianpiero Lambiase, Jonathan Wheatley, et al., Verstappen had a team behind him which was happy to let that be so. And if you've got a second seat prone to rotation, it would make absolute sense to hinge the technical direction behind the driver that a) is a generational talent and one of the most remarkable drivers ever seen in F1, and b) is likely to stay the course. 

Of course, things changed over 2024 and a couple of years after Dietrich Mateschitz's passing. Horner's two-decade stranglehold over the team's affairs was loosened when allegations of misconduct were levied upon him, and an album of WhatsApp messages purporting to be his communications with an employee of the team was leaked to the entire paddock. Ructions continued just as Horner had seemingly overcome the worst of the storm, as he and Marko were known to disagree on a number of points regarding the direction of the team. Horner sought to consolidate his power with the Thai side of Red Bull GmbH's ownership, while Marko allied with the Austrian side. 

Mekies appears to have brought balance to the team. Hadjar is doing a fine job in his sophomore season, and is genuinely holding a candle to Verstappen in terms of one-lap pace

The Verstappen camp also supported Marko. The internal schism appeared to be one of the reasons why Newey decamped to Aston Martin, evidently seeking a quiet life at a less fractious outfit, while Wheatley went to Switzerland for a short-lived spell as Sauber/Audi team principal. 

Horner's eventual dismissal was not entirely surprising in outcome, but certainly had been in timing; the internecine, internal war at Red Bull appeared to have subsided, with Horner and Marko looking slightly more comfortable in each others' company.

Laurent Mekies' arrival as team principal appeared to bring an end to the political struggles at Milton Keynes, and the Frenchman ran the rule through the order to ensure that not only was Verstappen catered for, but to also assist Tsunoda with his struggles with the Red Bull car. The latter point didn't quite play out, as Tsunoda was eventually deposed by Isack Hadjar, but Mekies' arrival coincided with Verstappen's then-unlikely challenge for the 2025 title. 

Mekies has defragmented the Red Bull set-up, although 2026 hasn't been smooth

Photo by: Max Slovencik / Getty Images

While Red Bull is finding life harder this season with a Jekyll-and-Hyde RB22 chassis, Mekies appears to have brought balance to the team. Hadjar is doing a fine job in his sophomore season, and is genuinely holding a candle to Verstappen in terms of one-lap pace. Race pace still eludes the Frenchman a little bit, but we must remember it's only his second year.

Sure, Verstappen has been somewhat unhappy with the car, but that's not stopped him from reeling off some vintage performances with it - think Montreal and Austria. Verstappen remains the lead driver, but Hadjar's getting the opportunities to perform alongside him. 

So, has it all been worth it? At the height of the Horner concerns, Jos Verstappen prognosticated that "the team is in danger of being torn apart" and "it will explode"; without wishing to speak for him, he would have been pleased by the initial outcome in 2025, but maybe less so by Marko's departure.

Has it ultimately been of some assistance to his son? 

If anything, it could be argued that it's gone the other way; one by one, the Verstappen axis has departed. Newey left, Horner (who was still keen to back the four-time champion) was let go, Marko left at the end of 2025, and now Lambiase is due to join McLaren in 2028. No wonder rumours about Verstappen engaging in talks with McLaren have surfaced, as Red Bull's inner structure is much-changed from that which presided over the Dutchman's glory years. 

A year or so ago, you could say that this was still Verstappen's team; he and the car were one, hunting down the McLaren pair like a circling shark, and fully supported by a ravenous team hoping to continue its successful run across the ground-effect era. It's a bit more difficult to say that today when Verstappen is evidently disappointed that he's not being listened to, or outlining his bi-weekly disappointment with the car, or actively considering other employment opportunities. 

Verstappen looks unimpressed with the idea of having to drive a brick...

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

That's not to say that Red Bull didn't need a refresh, but it needed to define itself: was it a Formula 1 team, or Max Verstappen's Formula 1 team? Opting for the former might not have happened under its previous management. 

Here's how Perez put it, in his High Performance appearance: "There were some very tough times, very tough periods towards the end as well. The pressure and everyone internally. We had too much success. So people got bored, I think, and they were fighting each other and all the drama around the end, but they were four fantastic years."

And that's it, isn't it? When things go well, folks want to stick their finger in the pie - regardless of how it makes the pie taste afterwards. The wish list of certain people within the Red Bull camp has been fully ticked off...but it's not had the effect that they wanted. 

Hadjar has been closer to Verstappen than he'd have liked...

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images