Concerns as F1 legend tipped for senior Red Bull leadership role

Tipped to join Red Bull Racing in a management role, Christian Danner says he cannot see Sebastian Vettel being Red Bull’s salvation in the midst of “this hullabaloo.”

Red Bull shocked the Formula 1 paddock on Wednesday when the team announced that team principal Christian Horner had been sacked after two decades in charge.

Could Sebastian Vettel stabilise the Red Bull ship?

The Briton transformed Red Bull Racing from an energy drink-owned F1 team into World Champions, winning six Constructors’ titles and eight Drivers’ titles.

However, as Max Verstappen toiled to the team’s eighth Drivers’ title, Red Bull’s advantage on the track was slashed by rival outfits. The team was also blighted by Horner’s off-track scandal in which the team boss was accused, but cleared, of inappropriate behaviour by a staff member.

Red Bull GmbH has not given the reason as to why Horner was sacked, Oliver Mintzlaff, CEO Corporate Projects and Investments, simply thanked him for his “exceptional work” adding he had been “instrumental in establishing Red Bull Racing as one of the most successful and attractive teams in Formula 1.”

The team then announced that Laurent Mekies, former Racing Bulls team principal, had replaced Horner as Red Bull Racing team boss and CEO.

It has raised questions about Red Bull’s future leadership.

More on Christian Horner’s Red Bull sacking

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? The hidden details in Christian Horner’s final media session as Red Bull F1 boss

The team has been linked to Vettel, its first four-time World Champion, although the German was tipped to be Helmut Marko’s replacement when the 82-year-old eventually leaves the F1 paddock. Marko is Red Bull’s motorsport advisor.

However, Danner doesn’t believe the German, who retired from Formula 1 at the end of the 2022 season, wants to put in the time and effort it would take to help stabilise the Red Bull ship.

“I don’t think Sebastian could help in this hullabaloo,” Danner, a former F1 driver, told Sport.de.

“It’s a full-time job, you can’t somehow go there for a few days with consulting and say I have an idea. But you have to have done it like all the good guys. You have to sit at your desk 24 hours a day.

“And that, I think, Sebastian is not willing to do.”

And he’s not the only one who has doubts about Vettel being able to fill a Marko-esque role at Red Bull.

Although the German has said he and Marko are “in contact, also regarding this topic,” the Austrian made it clear that “there are many possible names, but nothing concrete, and no concrete discussions either.”

Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher cannot see it happening.

“I don’t know how he can be integrated into it,” he told Formel1.de.

Revealing he’d “only heard Vettel, who said he would like to do it at Red Bull”, Schumacher added: “But I haven’t heard anything from Red Bull so far that anyone has said they think it’s good.”

The German can “hardly imagine how” his compatriot, who has focused on sustainability and the environment in recent years, “would attend 24 races with the electric car. From that point of view, I don’t think it’s so expedient for him.

“And I think it’s also difficult as a company – with the way he has expressed himself in Formula 1 in recent years, when it became so extreme.”

Vettel, though, has expressed an interest in returning to the Red Bull fold.

“There have been a few headlines now. I still get on very well with Helmut, and we are also in exchange on the topic,” sport.de quotes Vettel as having told Sport am Sonntag.

He went on to say the talks were “not yet intense and in-depth, but it may be something that can play a role. In what form remains to be seen.”

Marko, though, is by no means ready to leave the F1 paddock.

“That was an idea of ​​mine,” he said to OE24 of Vettel picking up the reins, “but it’s not ready for a decision; we’re still a long way from that.

“I don’t know who wants to retire me at the end of the year. I certainly don’t plan to do that yet: if you don’t use it, you lose it.”

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