Christian Horner F1: Red Bull boss shows desperation with huge McLaren financial declaration

Horner, McLaren, socials — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Opinion

Red Bull boss Horner shows desperation with HUGE McLaren financial declaration

Red Bull F1 boss Christian Horner stretches to desperate measures in championship scrap

By Kerry Violet.

Friday 20 September 2024 19:00

Red Bull Formula 1 chief Christian Horner has got desperate this week, attempting to stir the pot at championship rivals McLaren with a huge financial declaration.

The Red Bull Formula 1 team principal had a weekend to forget last time out at Baku as Andrea Stella's papaya outfit stormed to the top of the constructors' standings, knocking Red Bull off the top spot.

F1 RESULTS: Verstappen DISASTER continues as Red Bull embarrassed in Singapore

Article continues under video

McLaren leads the championship by just 20 points, yet the gap is clearly wide enough to strike fear into the heart of Horner, with the 50-year-old making a last-ditch attempt to turn the McLaren garage against each other once again following the recent 'papaya rules' debacle.

Following Oscar Piastri's controversial maiden win in Hungary earlier this season, McLaren were left in the uncomfortable position of having to confirm who their top driver was and if it were to be Lando Norris, whether they could count on Piastri to back his team-mate throughout his championship campaign against the withering Red Bull of Max Verstappen.

McLaren secured their first one-two in three years at the Hungarian GP

Lando Norris is breathing down the neck of Max Verstappen in the drivers' standings

Horner teases pay dispute in McLaren dig

In his personal life, Horner has also faced unrest this year after he was accused of 'inappropriate behaviour' by a Red Bull employee, for which he was cleared of any wrongdoing via an internal investigation.

To top it all off, the reigning champions now head into the Singapore Grand Prix weekend with just seven races remaining for them to take back the constructors' championship, all the while batting away rumors of their star driver being potentially poached and their supporting driver being axed as early as next week.

Sergio Perez has had a underwhelming 2024 season and now faces being axed

In the aftermath of a shocking Azerbaijan Grand Prix for Red Bull, Sky Sports have revealed that Horner understands Norris to be McLaren's number one driver purely because he is paid more.

In what comes across as a desperate attempt to rile McLaren up, Horner revealed: "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."

"Therefore, the confusion comes when you're not up front from the beginning of what your plans are."

Neither of Horner's own drivers have been on ideal form for the latter half of this season- Verstappen hasn't won a race since the Spanish GP back in June and Perez was even set to finish way ahead of his 'No.1 driver' team-mate last weekend before a high-speed crash delivered an abrupt end to his race.

Following Piastri's second career win last weekend, perhaps Horner has now had the sobering realization that it could be the Aussie driver who presents the biggest threat to Red Bull and feels the only way to get ahead of the issue is by driving a wedge between the 23-year-old and his team-mate Norris.

Christian Horner will be hoping Lando Norris gets caught up in McLaren team order issues once again

"I think the other one is causing them headaches because he [Piastri] is winning races and he's doing a very good job," continued Horner.

"For sure, they took Oscar with the expectation, as Mercedes did with probably George [Russell] and Ferrari did with Carlos [Sainz], that you've got a prime asset and a support asset."

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

Unfortunately for Horner, he isn't kidding anyone. The headache for him seems to be the battle he and his drivers now face heading into the final races of the season, where only a team as disjointed as Red Bull could mess up the winning the constructor's championship.

F1 RESULTS: Hamilton horror continues as Verstappen THRASHED by closest rivals

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

View full biography

Red Bull McLaren F1 Christian Horner Andrea Stella