One Formula One driver, a multiple grand prix winner, sent me a text this week: ‘The gradual decline of the House of Red Bull.’
A source close to the team called it ‘chaos’.
These statements are in relation to the sacking after two races this season of Liam Lawson as No 2 to Max Verstappen. The New Zealander struggled for results, qualified at the back, and is slung away to Red Bulls’ second-string Racing Bulls, his dream finished, it seems, at least for now, perhaps permanently.
Yuki Tsunoda is Lawson’s replacement and will take the seat in his homeland of Japan next weekend.
At the centre of the imbroglio is Helmut Marko, 81-year-old motor racing adviser to the energy drinks company, a respected associate of the company’s late founder Dietrich Mateschitz. He is Austrian and, along with team principal Christian Horner, the major voice in driver selection.
Horner’s role is good cop to Marko’s bad cop. Though it is Horner who delivers news to drivers of both their hiring and firing.
Helmut Marko (right) is the bad cop to Christian Horner’s good cop at Red Bull
Horner, Marko and Max Verstappen have overseen a historic run of dominance
Marko is a key voice in driver selection, including the demotion of Liam Lawson (left) this week
That said the final decision goes before the shareholders, Thailander Chalerm Yoovidhya and Mark Mateschitz, 32-year-old successor to Dietrich who recently paid some £500million to by Bernie Ecclestone’s F1 cars, all 69 of them.
The shareholders need to endorse any major changes at Red Bull, as they did in the axing of Lawson.
Mail Sport can reveal that Lawson got the job in the first place because, at least in part, design guru Adrian Newey, who has now joined Aston Martin, was against Tsunoda getting the seat.
Newey viewed him as too prone to tantrums, a toy-thrower in the cockpit. Various engineers under Newey were swayed by this argument. Hence Lawson being the favoured choice to take over from Sergio Perez for this year, the Mexican having been ditched at the cost of £18m in an unpaid contract.
There was neither a big objection nor massive endorsement about Lawson’s elevation among the Verstappen camp – Max, father Jos and manager Raymond Vermeulen.
It is understood that Lawson’s poor performance in the opening race in Melbourne was too much for Marko, the no-nonsense developer of the team’s junior programme.
Horner made an argument to give Lawson another chance, which he got in China, but he again underperformed, finishing 12th. He had been shown up once more by the phenomenon that is Verstappen, who finished fourth after his second-place finish in Melbourne, where Lawson crashed out.
But I understand that Verstappen is less than happy with Lawson’s dismissal. He thinks it too harsh (though in the first resort, like Newey, he was not crazy about Tsunoda being his team-mate).
Yuki Tsunoda has replaced his former Racing Bulls team-mate Lawson in the top team
Adrian Newey and Verstappen both have their reservations about new Red Bull driver Tsunoda
Jos Verstappen (left) and Gianpiero Lambiase (centre) are two of the world champion’s key pillars in F1, with Marko another
His disquiet comes despite Marko being one of the key pillars of his employment at Red Bull. The other non-negotiables are his father and manager (Jos and Raymond) and his race engineer GP (Gianpiero Lambiase). Though Horner is crucial to the team’s operation day-to-day, he is not seen as so vital to Max’s sensitivities.
As for Marko, he raced in Formula One in 1971 and 1972, losing sight in his left eye when debris from Ronnie Petersen’s March ripped through his visor. It ended his racing career at 29, by when he had won the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Red Bull-Verstappen bond was stretched last year by the scandal over texts allegedly sent by Horner to a female employee. Horner was cleared in two internal inquiries. Verstappen’s father and Horner fell out big time. Max kept his counsel, calling for calm to prevail.
Marko was a major ally, so much so that there is a clause in Verstappen’s contract that states that if Marko were to go, the team’s star driver could also do so before his term runs out in 2028.
A source close to Red Bull said: ‘It’s Helmut as well as Christian who is to blame for the fiasco over Liam.’ It’s interesting Marko is not excused. This may just be a spur to Verstappen leaving the team, with Mercedes and Aston Martin potential landing pads.
Perhaps the hassle enveloping the team might have been avoided if Red Bull had chosen a different avenue last year, when Carlos Sainz was on the market after being released by Ferrari, where he was jettisoned to make way for Lewis Hamilton.
Some within the team were up for employing the Spaniard, who spent three seasons racing for the junior team, then known as Toro Rosso, from 2015 to 2017. He and the Dutch world champion were team-mates there for a little over a year
However, forces within the Verstappen camp were less keen on the reunion. One insider says that Jos and Carlos Sainz Snr, world champion rally driver father of Carlos Jnr, did not get on. Off the menu.
Verstappen and Carlos Sainz were team-mates at Toro Rosso from 2015 to early 2016
We understand that Marko wanted to cut Lawson immediately after he crashed out of his debut Red Bull race in Melbourne this month
Marko will be crucial if Red Bull are to keep their superstar driver Verstappen from falling into the clutches of Mercedes or Aston Martin next season
In an interview with the BBC on Friday, Marko said of Lawson: ‘His performance was unfortunately not good enough and that comes from self-confidence. He’s not kicked out of Formula One. Racing Bulls will give him the chance to recover and his career will start again.’
As for Tsunoda, and why he was previously overlooked, Marko said: ‘He made a big step. It’s strange that after four years, in his fifth year now, he is a stronger personality. He has more confidence and he did two very good races.’
Tsunoda has been in the simulator at Milton Keynes this week and is said to have given productive, informed feedback.
He’s safe, for now.
