16/07/2025 07:25
"A disproportionate amount of power" wielded by 'Team Verstappen'
has been blamed for the downfall of Christian Horner as team
principal of Red Bull. The rise of Max Verstappen has been a
storied one since his F1 debut in 2015, with the Dutch driver going
on to become a four-time F1 champion with Red Bull. Over the past
decade, Verstappen, aided and abetted by father Jos, manager
Raymond Vermuelen, and long-time ally in Red Bull advisor Helmut
Marko, have formed a strong alliance which has placed the
27-year-old in a commanding position. Former F1 driver and Sky
Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok feels that over time, Verstappen's
power has grown, ultimately leading to Horner's demise. "I was
thinking about it, and in some of what's happened, if you look at
it in recent years, it's become a one-car team, right?" said
Chandhok, speaking on a Sky Sports F1 podcast. "We've talked about
how, since Daniel Ricciardo has left, the way the car design has
gone, the way the team has been structured, it's fairly much all
the eggs in the Max Verstappen camp, and in that basket.
"Ultimately, that's kind of created his downfall, because it's put
a disproportionate amount of power into 'Team Verstappen', to the
point where, if you're the wider Red Bull group, you look at it and
go, 'Hang on a second, yes, Max is on pole at the British Grand
Prix, yes, he's won two races this year, but the other car is
nowhere'. "It's put a huge amount of power in Max's camp. If he
leaves that team, they'd be fourth, fifth-best on the grid at the
moment. "So I think that has been one of the feelings, and
ultimately, Christian's got to carry the can for that, because he's
the man in charge. "He's led that philosophy of structuring the
team in that way. Maybe it's happened by accident, but the reality
is, he's the man in charge, and I think there's a strong element
that he's put a lot of power and faith into 'Team Verstappen'. "And
I wonder if that's ultimately come back to bite him a bit."
