“Chaos” and “power struggle” questions at Red Bull as Christian Horner cleared

Legendary F1 commentator Martin Brundle doubts the drama surrounding Christian Horner’s investigation will have an “instant impact” on the Red Bull F1 team but believes other questions could be raised in the future.

Red Bull announced on Wednesday afternoon that Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing following an investigation into allegations of possible inappropriate behaviour towards a female colleague.

It means Horner will remain in charge of the Red Bull F1 team for a 20th consecutive season, with the new campaign set to get underway officially on Thursday with practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Even before the investigation into Horner, there was a plethora of speculation, with some reports suggesting that there's a “power struggle” at Red Bull following the death of co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz.

Brundle believes any such theories can’t be proven right now, with the F1 team likely to be unaffected in the immediate future as they look to defend both titles in 2024.

“In terms of the team, they have momentum, an incredible car, incredible people, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez driving,” Brundle said on Sky Sports News. "I don’t think it will have an instant impact.

“Go back to when Dietrich Mateschitz died in 2022. Everything went over his desk. He was the boss of the whole Red Bull empire, certainly in our part of the world. Whether there is chaos going on, or a power struggle behind the scenes? We will have to wait to find out.”

Brundle was talking alongside Sky reporter Craig Slater, who made reference to the suggestions of a political struggle between Horner and the Verstappen camp, or the Red Bull team boss and Helmut Marko.

However, given the severity of the allegations, Brundle wanted to dismiss the notion that it was simply ‘internal politics’ given the female colleague involved.

“Those were the suggestions that maybe Horner had fallen out with the Verstappens, particularly Jos, Max’s father. Or Helmut Marko, whose role sometimes overlaps Horner’s in terms of leadership of this team,” Slater explained.

“Oliver Mintzlaff was mentioned as well, the former Red Bull Leipzig chairman, who now oversees Horner, that’s who Horner reports to on the Red Bull board. Previously he reported into a motorsports man.”

Brundle concluded: “If there’s anything to that, we’ll hear about it. If there is any element of truth to the story that there is infighting, we will find out.

“The subject of this is heavyweight, serious, and I wouldn’t want to talk about it being an internal political [issue].”