The Beckham clues as to where Verstappen and Red Bull are heading
by Jonathan Noble
OPINION: The fallout from the Christian Horner investigation by Red Bull into alleged wrongdoing towards a female employee has engulfed Formula 1 and led to something of a power struggle within the team. This has triggered suggestions that Max Verstappen could walk.
But is there also a scenario in which he could be pushed?
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner’s post-Saudi words regarding Max Verstappen’s future offered a fascinating insight into the fast-changing dynamics between them. We had gone into the Jeddah weekend with speculation over Verstappen’s future at the world champion squad in overdrive.
Amid the fallout of the Christian Horner investigation, and some fiery remarks from Jos Verstappen about Red Bull being at risk of being “torn apart” if there was no change at the top, everything appeared to be pointing towards the world champion wanting out. But while Verstappen himself had not been totally emphatic about seeing out his contract until 2028 – only saying that it had been the “intention” in originally signing the deal – Horner was in no doubts that things were set in stone.
Asked in the official FIA press conference in Jeddah on Thursday about whether he was confident Verstappen would stay, Horner said: “I'm certain that he will. He's got a great team around him. He's got great faith in that team. And we've achieved an awful lot together. So he's committed to an agreement until 2028."
Fast forward to Saturday night, though, and the messaging had changed a great deal. From having no doubts about the commitment to see out the deal, Horner was suddenly making it clear that he would not force anyone to remain if they wanted to leave.
“If an individual doesn't want to be in the team, we don't force people to be here,” he said. “People are here – and they work in this sport, in this team, because they want to be here, because they're passionate about what they do. It's that passion that enables us to deliver not average results but exceptional results.”
But in perhaps his most telling remark about things, he stated: “No individual is bigger than the team.” Those words hark back to the famous declaration of former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, who himself went through his own ‘player versus team’ conflict in 2003 with David Beckham.
Back then Beckham was the megastar in the squad but, as his global celebrity grew, so Ferguson grew weary of what he felt was a lack of the right attitude from the player on and off the pitch. The situation reached a denouement after Manchester United were knocked out of the FA Cup by Arsenal in 2003. In a post-match tirade in the dressing room about what had gone wrong, Ferguson kicked a boot that hit Beckham in the face – leaving a cut above his eye.
Attempts to patch things up in a subsequent meeting did not work and, after Beckham appeared in public with an Alice band to highlight his injury, things had reached a critical point. At that moment, Ferguson knew that he was in a situation where a player felt he was bigger than the club – and that could not be tolerated. Later that summer Beckham was gone.
In his autobiography, Ferguson wrote: “It was in those days that I told the board David had to go. My message would have been familiar to board members who knew me. The minute a Manchester United player thought he was bigger than the manager, he had to go. I used to say, ‘The moment the manager loses his authority, you don’t have a club. The players will be running it, and then you’re in trouble.’
Amidst all the speculation over Verstappen’s future as other teams look to capitalise on the opportunity to get hold of him, there is an undeniable ace that Red Bull and Horner have up their sleeve: their F1 car
“David thought he was bigger than Alex Ferguson. There is no doubt about that in my mind. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Alex Ferguson or Pete the Plumber. The name of the manager is irrelevant. The authority is what counts. You cannot have a player taking over the dressing room. Many tried. The focus of authority at Manchester United is the manager’s office. That was the death knell for him.”
We may not have had such a dressing room showdown at Red Bull yet, but it is obvious to think that Horner may feel that he is facing a case of his authority being challenged by his driver. While Verstappen Sr’s explosive remarks about Horner on the evening of the Bahrain Grand Prix may have been removed enough from the driver to not be his responsibility, there was no doubting the meaning behind the Dutchman’s defence of Helmut Marko over the Saudi weekend.
As news emerged of an investigation into Marko potentially leaking information to the media, and he went public that he risked suspension, Verstappen was quick to declare that if Red Bull’s motorsport advisor went, so too would he.
The repeated remarks on that front were clearly aimed at sending a message of the risk that Red Bull faced if Marko was pushed out. But equally, they may have been the catalyst for the change in tone from Horner himself, in terms of whether he felt Verstappen was now at the point where he felt he was bigger than the team.
Amidst all the speculation over Verstappen’s future as other teams look to capitalise on the opportunity to get hold of him, there is an undeniable ace that Red Bull and Horner have up their sleeve: their F1 car. With the rampant pace of the RB20 so far this year showing that the team’s understanding of the new ground effect rules remains unmatched, there is little doubt that a seat at Red Bull is the envy of almost every driver on the grid, so it would not be too difficult to get a top level replacement. As Horner himself said: “The best drivers always want to be in the best cars.”
So should Verstappen feel that he is better off elsewhere, or the teams feels it is a good time for a change, then there would be a level of assuredness that it would not be the end of Red Bull’s success. Could Verstappen win races in a Mercedes or Aston Martin next year? Probably. But could other top drivers be winning races in the successor to the RB20? Absolutely.
There are some big choices to be made by team and driver over the next few weeks, as we get to find out where the authority really lies inside Red Bull.
