Max Verstappen’s future at Red Bull Racing may be in question as the turmoil engulfing his team once more overshadowed the racing but his value as a driver is emphatically not, as he proved with an absolutely commanding drive to win the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Indeed, as machiavellian machinations contort the team around him, Verstappen gave a salutary reminder that he might be the most powerful bargaining chip of all in the power struggle threatening to tear Red Bull apart.
Verstappen won from pole, with a dominant drive that felt all too predictable even only two races into the season. He beat his teammate, Sergio Pérez, into second by a full 13 seconds and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, the first non-Red Bull challenger, into third by a country mile of 18secs.
Having held his led into the first corner he disappeared into the distance just as he had done at the first round in Bahrain, with ominous ease in a season that has 22 more meetings to run.
Britain’s Oliver Bearman, making his F1 debut with Ferrari as a stand-in for Carlos Sainz, who is recovering from appendicitis, was enormously impressive. He earned a deserved round of applause in the Scuderia’s garage to take seventh place as, at only 18 years old, he became the youngest British driver to compete in F1.
A worn out Bearman, having dealt with one of the fastest and most physically demanding circuits of the season, after being called up by Ferrari at the last moment on Friday morning, rightly declared himself happy with the result.
“It was a fantastic race, I was pushing all the way,” he said. “I was shocked at how hard we were pushing. It was incredible, especially at the end when I had the two guys on softs bearing down on me. I couldn’t relax, I was pushing flat out, it was really fun and I felt good confidence.”
It was another consummate – if uninspiring competitively – drive from Verstappen that demonstrated a relentless precision and flawless execution and left him unchallenged out front. A fine performance then, but perhaps only brief succour from the furore overwhelming the world champion and his team.
Verstappen shone under the floodlights of Jeddah, but no matter how fast he drives he simply cannot escape the controversy that has engulfed Red Bull and in which he himself is now embroiled.
By the time he took to the track for his second emphatic victory of the season, extraordinarily the only question being asked was whether the Dutchman’s future even lay with the team with which he has won the last three world championships and will probably comfortably deliver a fourth this year.
What was an unthinkable prospect only two months ago after title number three was delivered with assured ease, is now openly debated as the tumult at Red Bull continues.
Red Bull’s motorsport adviser, Helmut Marko, revealed on Friday he was under investigation and threat of suspension for, it is believed, the leaking of confidential information relating to the investigation into the team principal, Christian Horner, who was exonerated after an inquiry into allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
Verstappen, who has been equivocal in support of Horner, was far more forthcoming in backing the man who has brought him into the Red Bull programme, suggesting that if Marko was removed he could well follow him. Verstappen’s contract is believed to include an exit clause allowing him to do so.
On Saturday Marko met Oliver Mintzlaff, the CEO of Red Bull Racing’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH, in Saudi Arabia and Mintzlaff attempted to pour oil on troubled waters. When asked if Verstappen would stay with Red Bull, he declared: “Of course, he has a contract.”
Marko too said his intention was to stay with the team after the talks, stating that “everything has been cleared” but without revealing any details of what had been discussed. As has been the case with almost every aspect of this messy, acrimonious and divisive affair, it is difficult to accept any statement at face value.
The employee who raised the complaint has now been suspended, it is understood as a result of the findings of the investigation into Horner. Verstappen’s father, Jos, has openly called for Horner to go, a demand he chose to reiterate all the way from Belgium on Friday where he is taking part in the Hannut Rally, as he and his son backed Marko across what appear now to be clearly delineated battle lines.
Amid all of this tumult, F1 went racing – an activity which F1’s owners and the FIA are concerned feels like something of a sideshow to Red Bull’s operatic and very public Götterdämmerung.
In Jeddah, Verstappen again delivered notice of quite what an asset he is. It will be a message not lost on any of the parties mired in this messy and turbulent struggle.
On a far more edifying note for the sport, Bearman, at only 18 years, 10 months and one day old, acquitted himself enormously well. It was all the more impressive given that until Friday practice and qualifying he had never driven the car before.
The teenager from Chelmsford is the first Englishman to drive for Ferrari since Nigel Mansell in 1990 and he showed huge promise. With only two hours in the car under his belt and starting from 11th on the grid on the enormously testing and unforgiving circuit, Bearman was immense.
Threading the needle through the walls and the pack with alacrity, he showed no fear and drove as if he were a seasoned pro, making a series of decisive passes and holding his nerve to see off a late charge from McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Bearman, under intense pressure – not least by making his F1 debut in Ferrari scarlet – delivered with authority and made his case for an F1 drive next season. After this weekend, Verstappen would doubtless look back on such heady, uncomplicated times in his career with a covetous eye.
Mercedes struggled to find more pace once more, with George Russell sixth and Lewis Hamilton ninth. Oscar Piastri was fourth for McLaren, with Norris eighth. Fernando Alonso was fifth for Aston Martin, and Nico Hülkenberg in 10th for Haas.
