Christian Horner Helmut Marko Red Bull
Christian Horner Helmut Marko Red Bull Source: Daily Express

Red Bull has been going downhill this season. They are gradually losing their hegemony. From 2022 to the mid-2024 season, there was no other dominant team. In 2021, Max Verstappen had won the Driver’s World Championship. Albeit, that victory came under controversial circumstances with the race engineer being unfair to the then reigning champion, Lewis Hamilton. Nonetheless, it was a turning point in the shift of hegemony. Mercedes had won the constructor title in 2021. Hence, it was not a complete success for the Austrian team. They had to wait for the next year when Verstappen won a record-breaking 15 races that season.

Moreover, his teammate had won a couple of GPs that year too. Hence, after 17 wins in 2022, Red Bull did not have to look back in 2023. Last year, the Milton Keynes outfit won 21 of 22 Grands Prix. On top of that, the Dutch racer won 19 of those 21 race victories of RBR. Thanks to the car design by Adrian Newey and the engines of Honda, Christian Horner’s team looked unstoppable with the RB19 car. But in 2024, the new upgrades to the car have not worked in their favor. Lately, Horner tried to deny the “Catastrophic situation” of his team.

   

Eddie Jordan Criticizes Christian Horner For Downplaying His Team’s Current Hard Times

Red Bull Adrian Newey Max Verstappen Christian Horner
Red Bull Adrian Newey Max Verstappen Christian Horner Source: Sustain Health Magazine

Red Bull started the ongoing season on positive notes. They enjoyed a couple of one-two finishes in the first two races. From the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, the Milton Keynes outfit started showing weakness in their car. Back in Melbourne this year, Max Verstappen had a DNF due to brake failure. Later, in the next few races, the triple-time champion came back stronger. Eventually, he won seven of the first ten races in the ongoing season. However, things started changing since the Chinese GP. McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes as well started to catch up to the Milton Keynes outfit. At present, the British auto racing team is only eight points behind the reigning champions.

Recently, in an interview with the Formula For Success podcast, Eddie Jordan mentioned that Christian Horner has been fooling himself as he believes in the wind tunnel that is causing him miscalculations. Moreover, the former F1 team owner added, “I’m sorry, but I believe Red Bull’s situation at the moment is catastrophic.” On top of that, Jordan noted that Horner has a massive task on his hand as he needs to take out the bigger stick and “Start cracking it.” The way things stand, McLaren can soon topple Red Bull in the constructor standings. But what’s the real problem with the Austrian team? Horner said that his team is stuck in a “Vicious cycle.”

What’s The “Vicious Cycle” That’s Causing Trouble For Red Bull?

Christian Horner Max Verstappen Red Bull
Christian Horner Max Verstappen Red Bull Source: Formula1News.co.uk

Christian Horner had faced a lot of ups and downs this year. Starting with a female employee accusing him of “Inappropriate behavior” in February, then Adrian Newey deciding to leave the Milton Keynes outfit. And most importantly, a huge dip in performance of the RB20 car has messed things up real bad for the reigning champions. Lately, in an interview, the Red Bull boss mentioned that it is high time for his team to turn things around really quickly.

Adding to that, Horner explained that when they run more downforce on other tracks, they are able to hide some of the balance issues they are facing at the moment. It is the situation where the team is being harder on the tyres and compensating the balance as well. Horner said, “It is like when you create one problem to solve another one, that’s the vicious cycle.” 

Stay tuned with http://www.sportsnewsinternational.com/ for more such updates about your favorite F1 team.