Max Verstappen has reportedly ramped up the pressure on long-serving Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, sparking talk in the paddock about who might step in if the reigning champions decide on a leadership shake-up. Names are already circulating as potential successors, underscoring the seriousness of the Dutch driver’s ultimatum.
The tension follows a bruising Austrian Grand Prix, where an out-of-control Kimi Antonelli sent Verstappen spinning out on lap one. Even before the collision, Red Bull looked unable to match McLaren’s dominance; the orange cars still finished roughly 20 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc in third. Verstappen is now 61 points adrift in the championship, while Yuki Tsunoda’s two-lap-down finish exposed deeper performance issues inside the Milton Keynes squad.
According to Auto Motor und Sport, Verstappen has told Red Bull he will only remain if Horner is replaced or at least stripped of some authority, a demand reportedly strengthened by waning support for Horner among the Thai majority shareholders. Internal promotion is one option: Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer’s name has surfaced after his satellite outfit briefly upstaged the senior team with Liam Lawson’s sixth-place run.
Another strong contender is former McLaren chief Andreas Seidl, once hailed by Zak Brown as the grid’s best team boss. Seidl’s résumé includes nine podiums and a famous 1-2 at Monza between 2019 and 2022, plus a short-lived stint fronting the Audi F1 project. Well-placed connections inside Red Bull could ease any move, should the champions opt for an external hire instead of promoting from within.
Yet even swapping Horner for a fresh face may not resolve Red Bull’s biggest headache: a car that no longer develops fast enough. Verstappen’s frustration with ineffective upgrade packages has fuelled rumours he already has “one foot” in a future Mercedes seat, a scenario both Toto Wolff and George Russell acknowledge is under discussion. With McLaren’s latest 1-2 leaving Red Bull 255 points behind in the constructors’ race, decisive action is fast becoming unavoidable.
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