Dynasty in Crisis: Red Bull on the Brink

Red Bull is falling apart. It's hard to believe this is the same team that dominated the track with the RB19 in 2023. Just one year later in 2024, they stumbled to third place, and the 2025 situation is even worse. Fourth in the Constructors' Championship – trailing behind McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari. After the Canadian Grand Prix, they're 162 points behind McLaren. The 200-point gap isn't far away. It's almost surreal.

This collapse didn't happen overnight. From driver lineup issues to key personnel departures, power struggles at the top, and the completely broken RB21 – everything exploded at once.

Verstappen Standing Alone

Verstappen 155 points, Tsunoda 10 points. These numbers tell you everything about Red Bull's reality. Verstappen is still a monster. He's dragging the 'tricky and unpredictable' RB21 around the track by sheer will, managing 2 wins and 5 podiums. The fact that he's holding onto third in the Drivers' Championship is purely down to his talent. Just look at Canada – finishing second, only 0.228 seconds behind George Russell. Getting results like that with a car in this state is incredible.

Tsunoda, on the other hand, is struggling. He pushed out Liam Lawson to get this seat but has managed just 10 points through Canada. Compared to Verstappen, it's embarrassing. Tsunoda himself admitted that understanding the car and finding lap time is incredibly difficult. To be fair, it's not just his problem.

Red Bull's second driver problem isn't new. Gasly, Albon, even Pérez – they all struggled at Red Bull. Seeing them prove their talent elsewhere shows this isn't a driver problem, it's a Red Bull car and environment problem.

For years, Red Bull developed their cars around Verstappen's preferences. He can perfectly control the nervous front end and unstable rear that would terrify other drivers. But for everyone else, it's hell. Instead of building confidence, they can't even find lap time. It's a weakness Red Bull created for themselves.

The Great Exodus from Milton Keynes

Key talent is fleeing en masse. The on-track problems are just the tip of the iceberg. Adrian Newey's move to Aston Martin was a devastating blow. Newey wasn't just a designer – he was the core of the team's technical philosophy. When his opinions started getting ignored, you could see how deep the internal conflicts ran.

Even pit crew legend Jonathan Wheatley left. This is the man who created F1's fastest and most precise pit stops. Those little mistakes you see in Red Bull's 2025 pit stops? That's directly linked to his absence.

Adrian Newey, Jonathan Wheatley, Rob Marshall to McLaren – Red Bull's core pillars are collapsing one by one. Christian Horner calls it a "natural development process," but all evidence points to serious brain drain. The very structure that made Red Bull dominant is crumbling.

Civil War in the Paddock

Horner vs. Marko – a power struggle tearing Red Bull apart. After co-founder Mateschitz passed away, old conflicts erupted. Horner runs team operations, Marko handles driver development, each with their own power base.

Verstappen sits at the center of this fight. He's Marko's strongest shield. There are even rumors that Verstappen's contract includes exit clauses tied to Marko's position. With Jos Verstappen also siding with Marko against Horner, the conflict gets even messier.

This internal instability influenced Newey's departure too. Promoting Tsunoda over Liam Lawson also came down to disagreements between Horner and Marko. In F1, this kind of unstable environment is poison. Team morale drops, uncertainty grows. The on-track crisis is a direct reflection of the off-track political mess.

The RB21 Problem Child

Without Verstappen, the RB21 would be the worst car in Red Bull history. Designed as an evolution of the dominant RB19/RB20, it turned into an uncontrollable mess. The RB21 is the first Red Bull designed without Adrian Newey's full influence. His absence shows everywhere.

Engineers and drivers describe the RB21 as moody, temperamental, and unpredictable. No wonder.

The most critical weakness is extreme tire degradation and overheating issues. The comparison with McLaren makes it even more obvious. Even Verstappen admitted it: "I can follow McLaren for the first few laps, but once the tires start overheating, we're helpless." That's why they show qualifying pace but fall apart in race trim.

Red Bull fell into the success trap. The design philosophy that sacrificed stability for ultimate performance around a generational talent has become their biggest weakness. Competitors like McLaren built more balanced, efficient, and manageable cars. The RB21 isn't an accident. Without overwhelming performance advantage and Newey, it's the logical result of a development path that's no longer viable.

2026: Salvation or Destruction?

Red Bull is now fighting for survival. 2025 started with leadership civil war and spiraled into cascading crises.

The remaining season goals are damage control and analyzing RB21 problems. It's not about podium count – it's about how much they can learn.

In this despair, Red Bull's one ray of hope is the 2026 Red Bull-Ford powertrain project. New power unit regulations offer a chance to reset everything. It's Red Bull's most ambitious challenge ever – building their own power unit.

Ford announced the project is "progressing well" but also acknowledged the enormous complexity and disadvantaged starting point compared to existing engine manufacturers. This gamble's success will determine Red Bull's future.

Red Bull's 2025 collapse comes down to one thing: leadership failure. Power struggles at the top created distrust and instability that pushed great intellectual assets away. The result was a directionless technical team that created the untameable RB21.

The team stands at a crossroads. Before solving technical problems, they need to heal the internal political wounds first. A divided team can never win. The 2026 project is both their greatest hope for reclaiming past glory and their biggest risk of losing everything.

Can the bull rise again? F1 fans worldwide are watching Milton Keynes closely.