Is Red Bull in the Pit of F1 Controversy?

F1 is the supreme tournament of single-seater, open-wheel car racing. With famous races from Monaco to Melbourne, F1 is world-renowned and reaches 21 countries and five continents. With a focus on both team and individual racing, some of the teams have made their way into popular media such as Mercedes and Ferrari. But has Red Bull in particular made its way into the media for all the wrong reasons?

The behind-the-scenes and strategy of F1 is immensely important, but the focus will always remain on the world-class drivers. In each team, there are two drivers, with most teams having a dedicated first and second seat. For Red Bull, in recent times their first driver is infamously Max Verstappen. With an impressive winning streak dating back to 2021, he has been dominating the circuit for five years.

The dominance of Verstappen is a crucial part of what makes Red Bull controversial. Firstly, the way in which the team is — quite literally — built around him is somewhat concerning. Whereas other teams have high-tech but more generalised cars to suit both the first and second drivers, Red Bull engineer their cars around Verstappen and his driving style. Not only does this take away from the two-man team, but it also prevents the second driver from fully excelling. You would think Red Bull already has enough problems with their second drivers.

This ruthless Max-centric approach has left Red Bull with a very unstable second seat indeed. From Gasly to Albon, underperformance in the eyes of the team has been rife, with the more recent example of Liam Lawson causing further controversy. Although not quite a rookie after racing a couple of times as a replacement in the 2024 season, Lawson was swooped up by the Red Bull team only to be dropped after two races in 2025, proving that Red Bull has a consistent problem in finding a suitable second driver to Verstappen. Whilst internal issues are not necessarily controversial, when the media starts to feel that players are being mistreated, this is when controversy takes centre stage.

The controversy does not stop there. From a major budget breach to harassment claims, the second seat is the least of Red Bull’s worries.

In 2021, the budget cap of $145 million was breached by $2.2 million, leading to a $7 million fine and a ten per cent reduction in the following year’s aerodynamic testing time. Not only is this financially frustrating for the team, but it just quite simply looks bad.  

And onto what was the major headline of the 2024 season — Team Principal Christian Horner’s harassment case. Married to Geri Halliwell — more commonly known as ‘Ginger Spice’ — Horner was accused of inappropriate and manipulative behaviour when his female colleague released a series of texts.

All in all, Red Bull has had a bit of a car crash recently.

Yet, this is not to say that other major F1 teams have not had their fair share of controversies. Ferrari’s history of team order and the potentiality of another between Hamilton and Leclerc this season has upset some viewers. The aim of a team order is to prioritise the team win over individual success, after all.

Additionally, the late safety car period in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021 caused some issues for Mercedes. The cars between Hamilton (then Mercedes, not Ferrari) and Verstappen were unlapped, instead of all lapped cars, which gave the victory to Verstappen, who benefitted from having fresher tyres. Some blame Mercedes’ bad decision-making, whilst others blame the decision of Race Director Michael Masi.

Nonetheless, controversy is a given in F1 — a sport riddled with celebrity racers and mass media interest. But there are only so many times a team can get away with controversy, and time is ticking for F1’s biggest offender, Red Bull.

Image from Wikimedia Commons