Red Bull and the matryoshka

Matryoshka is a well-known Russian doll known for its refined decorations and for containing increasingly smaller ones inside, a kind of mirror game where the same image is repeated ad infinitum.

Here in South America, it's known as a mamushka, and a famous chocolate shop in the Bariloche region uses that name as a distinctive trademark for the production and sale of its delicacies. I remember one of its stores in the heart of the tourist city's shopping center with several of these oversized dolls spinning on its awnings as a distinctive sign and to attract buyers and consumers in a relentless battle with several other chocolate factories vying for dominance of a specialty that is a registered trademark in Argentine Patagonia.

Matryoshka is also used as an allegory to imply that one problem can hide another, and so on, until it becomes a chain of complicated outcomes.

Something like that is how I see what has happened to the Red Bull Formula One team recently.

A few days ago, I commented on the departure of Christian Horner and his replacement by Laurent Mekies as the team's head coach. I mentioned in that article that Horner had been fired due to the team's poor performance this season. This is the main excuse given by the company's board of directors. We know there was a severe underlying problem, and that it was the discrediting of the successful team principal caused by the accusations of a former employee. No one can guarantee it, but that could have meant his days were numbered.

Now, like when you cut a matryoshka doll into two parts and a smaller one emerges, another event was revealed to me that, although not definitive, must certainly have contributed to the inexorable tilt of the scales toward the aforementioned Horner's departure. That momentous event is none other than the departure of the highly successful Adrian Newey, Red Bull's lead designer, whose cars gave the team seven drivers' titles, six constructors' titles, and 118 Grand Prix wins.

No one in their right mind within the organization has welcomed Newey's departure to Aston Martin. Quite a few must have blamed Horner for the departure. Even if it had nothing to do with the design specialist's personal decision and their efforts to retain him were in vain, the ultimate responsibility lies with him.

Newey's departure had happened practically a year ago and was already planned. The person involved told the press that he needed a new challenge. He got that at Aston Martin. For a few months now, he has been the team's new technical director and shareholder, and he eagerly awaits his magic to work miracles and place them among the best cars for next year.

Returning to Horner, his early departure, as his contract was only due to expire in 2030, will net him between $60 and $80 million in severance pay, along with the current year's salary, bonuses, and other perks. This sum will be one of the largest financial compensations in F1 history. That's the good part, if you will. The bad part is that the former employee's lawsuit will likely reach the courts next year. That will be another story, or the continuation of this one.

Meanwhile, the top flight of international motorsports continues its momentum. There's already talk in the corridors of a possible move for the recently dismissed Horner to the Alpine team, thanks to his excellent relationship with Flavio Briatore and the imminent arrival of a new CEO at Renault. Ferrari has also tried to tempt him in the past and is likely to do so again now that he's free.

Like what happened with the famous Russian doll, what began with a complaint is uncovering the inside of other setbacks, difficulties, and unforeseen consequences. We'll see how this story ends, which, like many others in F1, becomes more and more interesting with each passing moment.