Red Bull Strategy Session: Unity for Success

Red Bull unites key figures to strategize and propel their mission forward, emphasizing a singular, unified goal.

As Red Bull reaches a critical juncture in its internal power struggle, Max Verstappen’s public outrage spectacularly erupted in Hungary.

Before the race, as the triple world champion already showed his frustration with his car’s declining performance, a key meeting of the team and the brand’s most influential figures took place over lunch.

The new CEO of the energy drink company, Oliver Mintzlaff, was joined by Thai (majority) shareholder Chalerm Yoovidhya, a Red Bull lawyer, Christian Horner, and Dr. Helmut Marko.

“We are all mobilizing with a single goal: the greatest possible success for the team,” Mintzlaff commented when asked about the meeting’s content.

Hours earlier, the media reported that the team advisor Dr. Marko’s contract with Red Bull had been modified—at Mintzlaff’s request—to dissociate him from Verstappen’s presence in the team.

The implication is that Verstappen is now solely bound by his current contract with Red Bull until 2028—potentially bad news for Mercedes F1 boss, Toto Wolff.

“I don’t know exactly what was in that clause, as I haven’t seen it,” reacted Wolff.

“The most important thing in a relationship is that a driver wants to stay with a team and drive for it. Everything depends on that. If the desire is no longer there, no clause is needed but rather the intelligence to part ways, of course with compensations.”

However, Marko added a significant caveat about the circulated information on this deleted contractual clause.

“It’s not entirely true. But we do not wish to discuss it publicly. It has no direct consequence for Max Verstappen.”

During this meeting, the case of Sergio Perez was also discussed. Mintzlaff indicated he wanted “a complete analysis of the situation” of the Mexican after Spa and “the options available to the team, both internally and externally.”

Could this be an overture to Carlos Sainz for 2025?