In the wake of Christian Horner’s axing from Red Bull, the divide that seemingly ran through the team has never been more apparent.

On one side of that was Horner, and on the other a small band of figures, collectively and unofficially dubbed ‘Team Verstappen’, with four-time world champion Max at its centre.

What is Team Verstappen?

The Verstappen-Red Bull relationship has been a lengthy one and, for the most part, harmonious. Max Verstappen arrived in F1 as a spritely 17-year-old and won on debut when promoted to the senior team little more thana year later. But, over the last 18 months, cracks have begun to appear.

That coincided with Horner facing accusations of inappropriate behaviour by a staff member, for which he was twice cleared, with the seeds of discontent planted back then appearing to have finally flowered.

But what germinated was not a bouquet of races, but an internal power struggle between the two factions that was ultimately resolved in the days after the British Grand Prix with Horner’s sacking.

So, who exactly is in Team Verstappen, and what are its motives?

Max Verstappen

The four-time world champion is a divisive figure. Prodigiously fast, he is the current benchmark in Formula 1; the man every other driver on the grid is compared with.

The Dutchman is the son of ex-F1 racer Jos Verstappen, with his life seemingly shaped around a career in motorsport.

A no-nonsense individual, he’s often courted controversy or headlines for voicing his opinion. He’s honest to a fault, at times blunt, and doesn’t suffer fools kindly.

He has a strong relationship with his father, Jos, not to mention Red Bull’s motorsport advisor, Dr Helmut Marko. Managing his business affairs is Raymond Vermeulen.

That trio work in support of Verstappen, who, for preference, tends to stay out of the politics of the sport wherever he can, preferring to focus on the element he enjoys most: racing and, more to the point, winning.

Jos Verstappen

A racer of note in his own right, Jos Verstappen was team-mate to Michael Schumacher at Benetton in his early days in F1.

Like his son, he has a feisty temperament, which he has used to help push Max to the incredible heights he’s already reached.

Jos Verstappen is also thought to be the leading figure within the ‘Team Verstappen’ camp, lobbying for his son’s best interests regardless of the outcome to others.

That saw him take a stance against Horner, publicly claiming Red Bull would “explode” if he remained in charge during the height of the Englishman’s dramas early last year.

Verstappen Snr is also a something of a canny politician, and understands the machinations of the F1 paddock well. He’s prepared to use that knowledge and the influence that comes courtesy of being an ex-driver and father of the sport’s benchmark to further his interests.

Much of that is done behind closed doors, though he’s also more than capable of using the media to his advantage, too.

Helmut Marko

A key figure within the Red Bull management structure, Marko had helped lead the organisation alongside Horner since it joined the paddock in 2005.

Also a former racer, a freak accident saw his driving career end when a rock impacted his eye in the early 1970s. That saw him turn his attentions to driver management, running teams in the junior formulae, where he encountered Horner.

Marko held a connection to compatriot Dietrich Mateschitz, the figurehead of the Red Bull energy drinks empire, and was instrumental in hiring Horner to manage it’s F1 interests.

Together, the pair formed a formidable relationship. While Horner ran the day-to-day operations, Marko oversaw driver development, bringing in the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, and Max Verstappen.

Over time, the relationship between Marko and Horner began to break down. At the peak of Horner’s dramas last year, Marko too found himself in the firing line with the Austrian claiming he was poised to be sacked following the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

It served to underscore the chasm that had developed between the pair. With Marko in clear opposition to Horner, a dangerous dynamic developed at the top of the organisation, as the 82-year-old became increasingly aligned with Verstappen.

Maintaining a strong relationship to the Austrian side of energy drinks empire, Marko therefore also sat on the opposite side of the Red Bull fence to Horner following the death of Dietrich Mateschitz, with Horner enjoying support from the Thai side of the business.

Raymond Vermeulen

The least public of the key players, Raymond Vermeulen is Max Verstappen’s manager. His task is simple: achieve the best possible result for the 27-year-old, act in his best interests, and execute the wishes of the four-time world champion.

A sports marketer, the Dutchman has had a long relationship with Jos Verstappen, which developed into a management role with his son, whom he’s known since birth.

Within Red Bull, Vermeulen holds no formal position, though he wields great influence courtesy of his position and responsibility for its star driver.

In that, the Dutchman is a trusty and dedicated lieutenant, responsible for negotiating the mammoth deals that are thought to earn Max Verstappen in the region of $75 million annually.

His son, Thierry, is also peripherally involved, driving for the Verstappen.com Racing team in GT competitions.

Oliver Mintzlaff

Oliver Mitzlaff was handed the keys to the Red Bull empire by Mark Mateschitz in the wake of his father’s death.

The 49-year-old Austrian is a former athlete who turned his hand to marketing in the early 2000s, becoming Red Bull’s ‘head of global football’ in 2014.

Mintzlaff was hand-picked by Dietrich Mateschitz prior to his death to be one of his successors in managing the business, taking on the F1 operations as part of his role as CEO of corporate projects and new investments.

Early on, there was apparent friction with Horner in how autonomous the F1 operation was.

Not a member of the Team Verstappen camp in any real sense, his position certainly makes him a valuable ally.

The Team Verstappen group – how much influence?

The quartet of Max and Jos Verstappen, Helmut Marko, and Raymond Vermeulen create a fearsome combination, each with subtly different motivations that all ultimately pull in the same direction.

Together, it has the potential to apply significant pressure across the entire Red Bull organisation, affording it a powerbase that would be difficult to replicate at a team with a different structure.

The presence of Jos Verstappen and Vermeulen alone is nothing uncommon – drivers all have their advocates and lobbyists charged with protecting their best interests.

Working on behalf of the four-time world champion does afford them added influence as they are important gate-keepers for Verstappen, and play a critical role in not just his current job, but his future too.

But what sets it apart from the dynamic other drivers enjoy is Marko, and his ability to turn the screw from inside the organisation.

The strong affinity that exists between Red Bull’s motorsport advisor and the Verstappens creates a powerful dynamic unlike anything else in pit lane; a direct line not only to the team’s senior management, but to the decision makers within Red Bull GmbH.

It just so happens that Marko holds a powerful position, a legacy both of his deep connection with Dietrich Mateschitz but also now to Mintzlaff.

Roll that together with an insatiable determination to win, a quality shared with Verstappen, and the result is a team surrounding the star driver that, within Red Bull, is capable of wielding incredible power and influence.

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