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'Max Verstappen victorious again but Red Bull power struggle continues and questions remain'
Max Verstappen cruised to the latest in a long line of composed and imperious victories at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Saturday. Behind the scenes at Red Bull, though, things are anything but serene.Verstappen's run of wins looks to have no obvious end - this was the ninth in a row, dating back to last year's Japanese Grand Prix, and his 29th out of the past 34 races since mid-2022.
But it took place against the backdrop of the continuing controversy following allegations of inappropriate behaviour made against team principal Christian Horner by a female employee, which the 50-year-old denies.
The latest development is evidence of a power struggle at Red Bull - some have said it's between Horner and their motorsport adviser Helmut Marko; and others say it's between the Thai majority shareholders and Austrian minority shareholders - into which Verstappen and his father Jos have now been drawn.
For 24 hours this weekend, Marko was in danger of being suspended by Red Bull. In the end, it seems to have taken an intervention from Verstappen to keep him in his position.
This revelation about Marko came a day after the female employee who reported Horner's behaviour to Red Bull's human resources department was herself suspended.
Red Bull has always been a secretive organisation that tightly controlled the flow of information to the outside world. That applies to the parent company Red Bull GmbH in Fuchsl Am See in Austria as much as it does to the Red Bull Racing F1 team.
Giving an insight into what happens inside the two companies is anathema.
As this off-track drama played out this weekend, some F1 insiders claimed that Horner, having won the backing of the Thai owner Chalerm Yoovidhya, was trying to dispense with all his rivals, to secure not only his own survival within Red Bull, but his position as the unchallenged authority in the team, and perhaps beyond.
Horner said: "The rumours about suspension were news to the team as to anybody else. We were quite surprised to hear that.
"Helmut is a contractor to Red Bull GmbH so it was an issue between them and we weren't part of that discussion. I have known Helmut since 1996 and he has played an important role over the years. Coming up to 81 years of age, he is still motivated about F1, which is a positive thing."
And he insisted: "My relationship with Helmut is no issue. He is always outspoken but that's Helmut. I am not quite sure where the rumours permeated from. It is not something I have been involved in."
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'Max Verstappen victorious again but Red Bull power struggle continues and questions remain'
Max Verstappen cruised to the latest in a long line of victories at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix but Red Bull are still embroiled in controversy, writes Andrew Benson.
www.bbc.com