Former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde said that “sabotage” is not an option at Red Bull. However, he wondered if the drama off the track at Red Bull had anything to do with Max Verstappen’s rare mechanical failure in Melbourne.
Red Bull started the 2024 F1 season in typical dominant style by winning both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. However, they couldn’t fully enjoy their success because team boss Christian Horner, senior advisor Helmut Marko, and star driver Max Verstappen were still being questioned about alleged clashes that happened behind the scenes.
Did the fallout of the off-track saga cause Red Bull to fall apart?
Things calmed down a bit before Round 3, the Australian Grand Prix. Verstappen went there hoping to tie the record for most consecutive grand prix wins with 10, but those hopes didn’t last long.
Verstappen got off to a good start from pole position, but on the next lap, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz passed him for the lead as Verstappen’s RB20 had trouble. Verstappen had to stop early because the right rear brake caught fire.
Red Bull rarely makes mistakes of any kind. This was Verstappen’s first DNF since his trip to Australia in 2022, and van der Garde suggested that the chaos inside Red Bull may have caused a major mistake.
On the DRS De Race Show podcast, van der Garde said, “Either there was a problem with the brake or someone forgot to do something.”
The F1 2024 Drivers’ Championship results without Max Verstappen are suggested by PlanetF1.com.
Revealed: The F1 2024 Constructors’ Championship without Red Bull
“This taking place at Red Bull right now is very strange.” That’s not what I mean by “sabotage.”
“But when there are internal messes in a team like that, people can make mistakes. We haven’t seen it in two years. It was such a well-oiled machine. Everything ran so perfectly.
“So does this have something to do with what’s going on at the top?”
Red Bull were unable to keep their 100 per cent winning record in-tact after Verstappen’s DNF with his team-mate Sergio Perez managing only P5, due to a visor tear-off getting stuck in the floor and causing a loss of downforce. Ferrari instead scored a one-two of their own, Carlos Sainz getting the win with Charles Leclerc P2.