Christian Horner's Red Bull F1 aggressive strategy shows team's desperation

Christian Horner in front of Red Bull-crew — Photo: © IMAGO

Red Bull Turmoil

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Red Bull DESPERATION made clear by aggressive new Horner strategy

They've lost their lead to McLaren, and now Red Bull are trying a new approach

Daniel Austin

Thursday 3 October 2024 12:58

Without a win in eight races, watching the erosion of their championship lead week by week, and seemingly unable to fix their problems, Red Bull are facing a Formula 1 challenge which seemed impossible in the early stages of the season.

The Milton Keynes-based squad have arguably been the fourth-fastest team on the grid for months, aiming merely to limit the damage done to their chances in both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships by Lando Norris and his McLaren team.

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But they have now already been surpassed by the papaya squad in the race for the team title, and triple world champion Max Verstappen has been able to finish ahead of Norris in only one of the past six grands prix.

Red Bull’s problems appear to stem from a faulty development path – the RB20’s performance has wilted while those of rivals has improved significantly, with a particular weakness in the floor leading to a return to previous versions. Despite the deficit being clear for months, there has been little sign so far of Red Bull being able to propel themselves back into the fight for grand prix victories.

Unable to push the car back to the dominant position it enjoyed for the first seven weekends of the campaign by technical means, Red Bull appear to have settled on a different, perhaps more desperate short-term strategy to try and drag themselves and Verstappen to the drivers’ title.

Team principal Christian Horner is at the forefront of it, using a more aggressive approach to media engagements focused on attempts to unsettle rivals.

Horner and McLaren CEO Zak Brown have been involved in a running tiff so far this season

What has Christian Horner been saying?

Horner has always been a combative character in the paddock, but has had a tendency to focus on his own team for the past few years, aided no doubt by their almost pristine dominance across the majority of race weekends since F1 entered its latest regulation era in 2022.

But in the past few weeks, as McLaren have stormed into the lead of the constructors’ championship, and Ferrari and Mercedes have become more regular contenders for wins, Horner - unable to turn around his own squad’s fortunes - has instead sought to disrupt others.

First, he aimed to sow discontent at McLaren by suggesting that the team has always had a clear one-two driver structure which it has kept hidden from Oscar Piastri, and the Australian’s strong performances are serving as a hindrance.

"Lando Norris, they're paying five times what they pay Oscar, so I would assume he would be their No 1 driver, or their biggest asset," Horner said. "I think the other one is causing them headaches because [Piastri] is winning races.

"When the second driver starts outperforming the first driver, that's when you tend to have a headache."

Given that Verstappen retains a 52-point advantage over Norris largely because McLaren failed to sacrifice Piastri’s results in favour over Norris’ early enough in the season, Horner’s argument is flawed. And as a clearly competent leadership figure who has been in the paddock for two decades, he knows that full well.

Horner's demeanour has changed as Red Bull's dominance has faded away

What is the logic behind Christian Horner’s strategy?

The comments are merely an attempt to rile up tensions between Piastri, Norris and the team. As were Horner’s comments about the possibility of signing Mercedes’ George Russell in future.

"Russell is out of contract at the end of next year - it would be foolish not to take that into consideration," Horner said in Singapore. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff responded by saying the claim was merely evidence that Horner was "trying to stir s*** up".

Again, Horner gains precious little from touting his team’s chances of signing a rival’s driver in public. But what he may be hoping to do is give Russell and his agents something to raise in negotiations, which potentially makes the agreement of a new deal slightly more complicated.

A desperate, aggressive strategy this all may be, but when nothing out on track is going in their favour, why not give creating disturbances in those around you a go? This kind of thing goes on in every elite sport, from managers’ press conferences in football to tennis coaches bellowing out the rival player’s weaknesses between points.

What it does suggest, though, is that Red Bull have decreasing confidence in their own ability to stem the tide in the final six races of the season. The momentum is all with McLaren, with Norris, and the best defence Red Bull have is what Wolff accurately labels "s*** stirring".

The history books may show that F1 championships are won through speed, top-tier technical development and solid strategy, but rest assured that 's*** stirring' has played a part in plenty of the sport’s most memorable triumphs too.

Now Red Bull and Horner are hedging their bets that it can do so again.

Red Bull Max Verstappen McLaren Lando Norris