Berger on Red Bull: ‘This is often the beginning of the end’
Gerhard Berger has a long-standing history with Red Bull Racing, having been the first Formula 1 driver sponsored by the energy drink manufacturer and later co-owning Toro Rosso.
His involvement with Red Bull was deeply tied to Dietrich Mateschitz, the visionary businessman behind the brand. Since Mateschitz’s passing, Berger has observed a significant shift in the stability of the team, leading him to describe Red Bull Racing as being in a state of chaos.
Berger expressed his amazement at how Red Bull Racing, once the dominant force in Formula 1, began to falter. He pointed to the internal conflict between team principal Christian Horner and senior advisor Helmut Marko, with Max Verstappen aligning himself with Marko, as a key issue. This discord, he suggested, signaled deeper problems within the team.
“It is often the beginning of the end when such topics dominate,” Berger said in an interview with Auto, Motor und Sport. “Formula 1 is so complex and so competitive that you can only be successful if everyone in the team puts their shoulders to the wheel, if everyone agrees and communicates well with each other.”
Berger highlighted how Red Bull’s brand had always been synonymous with happiness and a cool, confident image. However, with the growing tension in the team, that image drastically changed. “Suddenly everything changed. Completely atypical for the team, there were no more clear statements,” he noted, indicating a departure from Red Bull’s traditionally decisive leadership.
One of the clearest examples of Red Bull’s internal struggles, according to Berger, was their handling of Sergio Perez’s situation. The decision-making regarding Perez’s contract was, in Berger’s view, indicative of a lack of clarity within the team. “You could see that things were no longer working well. Nobody in this business understood that he was given another contract then. There could have been reasons like marketing or the contract situation.”
The Austrian further criticized the team’s indecisiveness regarding Perez’s future. “But when things did not improve after that, they gave him three more races and then two more, and refused to take a decision. I couldn’t see a clear line there. In Mateschitz’s time, Red Bull was always known for its clarity.”
Berger’s observations suggest that Red Bull Racing is facing a period of internal turbulence, which could threaten its competitive edge in Formula 1. Whether the team can recover its former stability and focus remains to be seen, but as long as internal conflicts persist, Red Bull may struggle to maintain its dominance.