The booing of Formula 1’s pantomime villain Christian Horner drew much attention at the F175 London launch event.
It has mainly centred upon whether it was right or wrong for the fans in the arena to boo.
For his part, Horner handled it extremely well. The jeering began even before the video that accompanied the team’s launch segment had started running on the big screen, so it was not necessarily directed towards him. It intensified when Horner walked up the stairs to the stage with the Rolling Stones’ Start Me Up playing over the PA system.
Once the noise had abated, Horner spoke but it became clear that the negative reception was unexpected: “It’s lovely to be here,” he said, before stopping momentarily. It was the briefest of pauses but it was enough for the Red Bull boss to shelve any thoughts about a verbal riposte to 16,000 people.
He went on to explain the significance of the Rolling Stones' song and how it was a favourite of the late Red Bull co-founder, Dietrich Mateschitz, but the sentiment had sadly been lost in the chorus of boos and perhaps too much of the impetus behind Red Bull’s heavily-produced video reel to accompany the unveiling.
While the whole episode was undoubtedly difficult for Horner, it must have been hard to digest for the man he sat next to for the presentations, Oliver Mintzlaff.
The German, Red Bull’s managing director, was at the centre of presiding over the internal investigation into claims made against Horner 12 months ago. Mintzlaff has since backed Horner, who was cleared of any wrong doing and has always denied the allegations made against him.
However, purely from a branding exercise, one wonders what Mintzlaff made of seeing the team, including its driver Max Verstappen, receive such a negative reaction.
Maybe there is some school of thought that the booing was out of place to begin with. And one could also argue that had the livery launch happened anywhere else in the world, there would have been an entirely different response.
Perhaps another point is that Red Bull has always been anti-establishment, so splitting opinions was not necessarily a bad thing for the famous marketeers.
One suspects though that it might raise a slight concern given the team’s undeniable success on track, with Verstappen claiming a fourth, straight drivers' title in 2024.
But last season Red Bull also lost its constructors’ crown and subsequent lucrative prize money, slipping to third behind McLaren and Ferrari. Should that trend continue into the 2025 season, then Horner could find the pressure is back on.
Verstappen could again emerge as a target for rival teams, or indeed again publicly question his future in F1.
There are unknowns as to how good Liam Lawson actually is and potentially a wider question mark about effectiveness of the Red Bull talent production line. What if Lawson comes up short, or indeed should there be any problems at Racing Bulls with the consistency of rookie Isack Hadjar? That is sure to pin the focus towards the back-him-or-sack-him Sergio Perez saga that played out last season.
The Mexican’s departure was a mess and in no way Horner’s fault, but the delay in planning for his future did mean Red Bull was left with slim pickings when it came to its line-up for its sister team.
That scrutiny will also shift the focus on Helmut Marko and whether he is fulfilling his roles as the team’s advisor. The usefulness of the Austrian’s position in the team has long been debated in the paddock, so should he feel the pressure then it is likely to see him come out swinging.
And then there is the potential for the biggest disruptive influence in the form of Jos Verstappen. Should he feel dissatisfied that Red Bull, or indeed Horner, is responsible for his son’s career taking a nosedive, then there could be all manner of mudslinging.
Horner, however, loves a challenge. He has some trusty lieutenants that have been promoted in place of the departed Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley. But by the same token, it will be an easy, if incorrect, assumption to make that should Red Bull struggle then it is a consequence of its losses to Aston Martin and Sauber respectively.
Horner therefore is sitting on another tinderbox situation at Red Bull. He has returned the team to glory before and can no doubt lead Red Bull’s revival again – not least with its Ford-supported Red Bull Powertrains programme coming on full steam from 2026. The question is will he be given the time to do so?
