Formula 1 2025 Season Discussion

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#3392531 9-Jul-2025 23:38

Red Bull and Lawson are appearing the the Goodwood Festival Of Speed starting tomorrow. Imagine they are going to have a very busy time fending off the press making a beeline for them

Ragnor

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#3392532 10-Jul-2025 01:57

thermonuclear:

Verstappen's management are saying they were "informed in advance" of the decision regarding Horner's sacking. That tends to suggest Max is still in the Red Bull camp for the moment.

The guy that needs to be sacked next is Wache. Horner has previously nailed his colours to the Wache mast and his car has got progressively worse to drive to the point where even Max can't drag it to the front consistently now. Eddington has built a decent, if unremarkable, car at Racing Bulls. He got dragged back to Milton Keynes at the beginning of the year for this "Plan B" call-up surely.

Anyway, career best result for Liam, career best result for Hulkenberg, Horner sacked ... that's three of the seven signs of the apocalypse now.

There are 1000s of people involved, probably too easy to blame it on 1-2 people that are visible to the public.

Due to the cost cap and promotion offers from other teams there has been a brain drain/attrition to of top talent:

Dan Fellows, Lee Stevenson > Aston
Marshall, Will Courtney > McClaren
Wheatly > Sauber
Newy > Aston
etc

Same thing happened to Mercedes too. No king rules forever.

Horner, has a great record: 20 years - 8 drivers champs, 6 constructors champs.

Time will tell if change was the right move or change for change sake.

insane

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#3392536 10-Jul-2025 03:52

Since the death of Dietrich Mateschitz, there's been a clear power struggle in that organisation. Few notable events that would have made the two camps fight.

- Christian's personal scandal

- Newey's departure

- Departure of other key staff

- Honda withdrawing and Partnering with Aston

- Huge investment to stand up Red Bull Powertrains, with partnership with Porsche switching to Ford

- Driver's being swapped in and out

- 2025 Car that's getting harder to drive and less performant.

- Max rumours of switch to Mercedes sounding more likely by the week, and Jos just making a nuisance of himself.

- Issues with engine development for 2026 Car signalling years of not being competitive.

He would have been an embattled CEO without many recent company highlights, or key staff left in his corner to turn things around.

Batman

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#3392539 10-Jul-2025 06:41

thermonuclear:

Well, well, well.

Mekies to take over as TP with Alan Permaine as Liam's new boss. Surely this was a "he goes or we go" ultimatum from the Verstappen camp?

Hope this is good news for Liam's future in F1 next season and beyond.

definitely 100% a Max ultimatum. Max hides it very well i must say. no public criticisms of Horner whatsoever.

also 100% proof that Red Bull have 4 cars on the grid. how is it that other teams don't protest i don't know

insane

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#3392541 10-Jul-2025 06:51

Very interesting that they have also sacked he Chief Marketing Officer and the communications manager who were loyal to Christian. Making sure they control the narrative... Zac will be laughing at this unfold.

Bung

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#3392557 10-Jul-2025 07:27

Batman:

definitely 100% a Max ultimatum. Max hides it very well i must say. no public criticisms of Horner whatsoever.

Unless Max has an A team waiting for Horner's exit what's the point?

Horner going won't make the car go faster.

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#3392558 10-Jul-2025 07:29

It may be all this to keep Max, or its Summer Break, Max may swap with George to complete the cull out. Right now, Max is just filling a seat with no rewards coming. At least at Mercedes he can build on his next career step, with a view to being in contention 2026

JPNZ

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#3392596 10-Jul-2025 08:09

What an incredible few hours in F1. This seasons drive to survive will be entertaining to say the least haha

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langi27

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#3392621 10-Jul-2025 09:02

Wasn't there rumors of Horner going to Ferrari? or the 12th team that is also rumored.

You don't get stood down with immediate effect if your competitions isn't involved somehow. HR literally walk you out the door and you go on gardening leave like what happened to Newey.

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#3392622 10-Jul-2025 09:08

Just think how empty Horner's wardrobe will be without all the RB merch.

tdgeek

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#3392630 10-Jul-2025 09:41

langi27:

Wasn't there rumors of Horner going to Ferrari? or the 12th team that is also rumored.

You don't get stood down with immediate effect if your competitions isn't involved somehow. HR literally walk you out the door and you go on gardening leave like what happened to Newey.

Alpine is my pick, he's good friends with Flav. Same commute as he has now. He doesnt speak Italian, he has a wife and 3 kids to uproot from school. Ferrari is a big ask.

He's had a recent bereavement (mother of his first daughter) so I feel he will take a short sabbatical and step into Alpine later this season once the bruises have healed and he's emotionally back on track.

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Bung

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#3392633 10-Jul-2025 09:50

He gave a farewell speech to RB staff where he said he was still employed by RB but was relieved of control. Gardening?

thermonuclear

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#3392645 10-Jul-2025 10:35

tdgeek:

langi27:

Wasn't there rumors of Horner going to Ferrari? or the 12th team that is also rumored.

You don't get stood down with immediate effect if your competitions isn't involved somehow. HR literally walk you out the door and you go on gardening leave like what happened to Newey.

Alpine is my pick, he's good friends with Flav. Same commute as he has now. He doesnt speak Italian, he has a wife and 3 kids to uproot from school. Ferrari is a big ask.

He's had a recent bereavement (mother of his first daughter) so I feel he will take a short sabbatical and step into Alpine later this season once the bruises have healed and he's emotionally back on track.

Watched the F1TV live stream last night (it's on YouTube) with Laura Winter and Alex Jacques covering off the news. I found it interesting that both had something to say about Horner spending a fair bit of time at the Alpine hospitality last weekend. Probably moreso that this kind of information doesn't find its way into their broadcasts at the time than the story itself. Horner is a possibility at Alpine I suppose, Briatore would have no qualms about finding a job for him.

Laurent Mekies as Red Bull CEO is a strange one, I guess it was the only immediate step they could take. He's always come across as a compliant minion to the main team, someone with no real say or power. Definitely no Franz Tost. And he came out of Ferrari when they were even more of a basket case than they are currently. He's surely the "rebound" guy, someone to mind the store while they decide on the actual long term replacement to Horner.

Interesting times ahead. With the Verstappen camp seemingly in the ascendency now, I do hope this plays to Lawson's advantage for next season. He's always been perceived as a Marko pick than a Horner one so the latest developments would appear to strengthen his overall position provided he can continue to improve. Tsunoda might consider himself in a better place now as well. They still will probably want to make room for Lindblad regardless, though he might have to settle for reserve driver duties until summer break next year while Lawson and Tsunoda fight it out for the final seat across the two teams.

Asteros

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#3392646 10-Jul-2025 10:41

I think it would be hilarious if Horner goes to Alpine. He would have to supplicate himself to Toto and Mercedes which would surely cause him much angst.

I really hope Max comes to Mercedes. I'm not confident because this surely increases the odds of him staying with Red Bull.

thermonuclear

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#3392650 10-Jul-2025 10:52

Asteros:

I think it would be hilarious if Horner goes to Alpine. He would have to supplicate himself to Toto and Mercedes which would surely cause him much angst.

I really hope Max comes to Mercedes. I'm not confident because this surely increases the odds of him staying with Red Bull.

The move on Horner has to be motivated by ensuring Verstappen stays at Red Bull doesn't it? There's little to be gained by sacking Horner now if Max has already indicated he's walking at the end of the season.

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