Eddie Jordan tears into ‘catastrophic’ Red Bull in clear Christian Horner message
By Thomas Maher,
2024-09-06
Christian Horner has been urged to wield a "big stick" to get Red Bull back on track.
Eddie Jordan wasn’t one to mince his words as he spoke about what he’d do to rectify the situation at Red Bull if he was in Christian Horner’s position.
The Irishman may not have been an F1 team boss for almost two decades, but Eddie Jordan believes he knows what needs to be done to steady the ship at Red Bull as the reigning World Champions come under ever-increasing pressure in the championships.
Eddie Jordan: Red Bull situation now ‘catastrophic’
Appearing on the Formula For Success podcast with David Coulthard and Mark Webber, two veterans of the Red Bull F1 project after being race drivers for the team, Jordan was asked for his thoughts on the pressure increasing on Red Bull.
After having a stellar start to the year, Red Bull’s championship lead is down to just eight points in the Constructors’ Championship as Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have been unable to hold back the progress of the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Worse, it’s not just McLaren who appear to have the edge on Red Bull with eight races left in the season, as Ferrari and Mercedes have also won races more recently than the Milton Keynes-based team, who are winless since June’s Spanish Grand Prix.
“What’s the first thing you would do? You’d say, ‘Okay, guys, now enough of the crap’,” Jordan said.
“We need to see facts, right, ‘All you engineers, come into the boardroom, we’re going to have a heart-to-heart here, exactly where we are’.
“‘What was the setup that we had at the beginning of the season? What was the setup when we were winning races by 15 seconds and this and that and the other, and we were cruising?’
“‘What has changed? Show me the upgrades, because, sure as heaven, those upgrades have not worked. You’re fooling yourself. You’re trying to believe in a wind tunnel that’s obviously giving you a miscalculation’.
“‘Let’s go back to where we were and start from there and make sure nothing gets changed until we can categorically guarantee that it’s quicker’.”
Jordan believes it’s now time for Christian Horner to get tough on his staff in a bid to get control of the situation, having seen the championship challenge derail through the middle portion of the season.
“I’m sorry, but that’s the way I feel about it. It’s now catastrophic,” he said.
“Christian Horner has a massive job on his hands because he has to take out the big stick and start cracking it, honestly.
“We were all slagging off Perez, but maybe Perez and that car, that’s the speed of the car, and what Max is doing is what Max is able to do.
“Beyond any doubt, he’s the best driver in Formula 1, beyond any doubt in my opinion, at this moment in time. So therefore, to finish fifth and fourth and sixth, or whatever it is, Jesus, it must be killing them at this stage.”
Webber believes Red Bull’s RB20, a car that Horner has admitted may have become “overcomplicated”, is being flattered by Verstappen at this point of the season.
“That was a well-oiled machine. Max has carried that team for a while now this season,” he said.
“We’ve seen Barcelona, we’ve seen Silverstone, Imola.
“I mean, Lewis Hamilton’s win at Silverstone was absolutely extraordinary, but Max’s second place there was top draw. We’ve seen some very, very, very special drives from Max.
“Without Max, that car, at times, obviously, as he’s called it himself in his own words, has turned into a monster. Let’s see. It’s just the fine gains – they get a little bit back, you just don’t know. It can change.”
With Jordan being Adrian Newey’s manager at a time when the British engineer’s step back from day-to-day involvement with the F1 team has ended as he’s entered a period of soft gardening leave before a full departure next year, Coulthard poked fun at Jordan’s own involvement in costing Red Bull its talismanic engineer.
“No, that’s bollocks. He was out of there!” Jordan retorted, before pleading with Webber to back him up – something the Australian had no interest in doing.
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