Q: Not sure if anyone else saw this, but as I was scrolling TikTok this past week I started getting content from F1 content creators. They were all railing against Danica Patrick (both male and female creators). Apparently, she is in the new season of “Drive To Survive” in some capacity. Every video was about how they dislike her and every comment was a negative reaction to her appearance on the show.
I was a bit surprised as I thought it was only IndyCar and NASCAR fans that disliked her that much. I didn’t even realize F1 folks would even really know much about her.
Ross Bynum
CM: Danica is a fairly regular part of the Sky Sports F1 coverage now, which also means being on the ESPN broadcasts. That means she’s become much more well-known to F1 fans, and some seem to take exception to the fact she hasn’t driven an F1 car, but it is important to show young girls getting into the sport that there are examples of those who have made it to the highest levels of racing.
Q: Chris, did I understand correctly that Red Bull did not even reveal who conducted the investigation? I understand confidentiality is appropriate for the contents of the investigation, but knowing whether it was done by Fred’s Excellent Detective Agency vs someone with real expertise is important. Or were more details communicated within F1 but not made public?
Doug Farrow, Plymouth, MN
CM: You are correct, Doug, the only details that were publicly communicated were when the investigation was first acknowledged by Red Bull GmbH, who described the process as “being carried out by an external specialist barrister.”
Generally there hasn’t been much skepticism toward who was doing the investigating, but there were some comments about the fact that whoever was appointed was still selected and paid for by Red Bull GmbH itself.
Q: So, I’m not one given to conspiracy theories, but here’s something to think about: A while back, there was some talk about friction between Horner and Dr. Marko.
I’ll state up front that I have not been a fan of Dr. Marko ever since he blamed Webber for the wreck with Vettel at Turkey in 2010. What stood out for me is that, as far as I know, Dr. Marko never recanted what he said, even after seeing the video of what happened. That really speaks to his golden boy mentality with Vettel then and Verstappen now.
Anyway, what I wonder about is if Dr. Marko might have played a role in the Horner scandal? Backseat things like encouraging someone to come forward with information? In other words, nothing overt, but just enough to get something rolling. It also seems odd that the settlement was refused. There must have been a thought that the evidence was pretty compelling, but there is always the possibility that things will not go your way. Anyway, my feeling is that there is just something off about this whole deal.
Don Hopings, Cathedral City, CA
CM: I don’t know about Marko specifically other than when he was originally approached for comment by German media as the story was first breaking in early February, he stated he could say nothing and it was all above him, and directed people to Red Bull GmbH. That would have been a prime opportunity to stir the pot if he wanted to, but he didn’t as far as I’m aware.
I’d also say you don’t have to worry about conspiracy theories anymore, as it’s become abundantly clear that someone within Red Bull does not want Horner there, and whoever that is kept pushing even after the investigation dismissed the grievance.
What’s really worrying about the whole scenario though is that there is a female employee involved who raised the grievance in the first place, and is either being overshadowed by the power struggle that’s followed, or is caught in the middle of it.
Q: I finished watching the most recent season of “Drive to Survive,” and one of the main things that struck me is that while the production quality is high, the actual amount of effort to produce DTS doesn’t seem to be that high. The footage basically falls into categories of on-track driving, interviews in the black background room, and a few “following somebody around on a non-race weekend” basically scripted segments.
I think there’s a consensus that most of the young U.S. fans of F1 are coming from DTS. Am I missing something here, because it seems that as long as everyone agreed to do interviews and getting to use the broadcast footage wasn’t an issue, it would be pretty easy for any series to recreate what DTS has done?
Will, Indy
CM: I’ve got to disagree with this one, Will, the time and effort that is required to capture everything they capture is enormous. Even just being at every F1 race is a huge undertaking, but then to mic-up and follow teams, pivot to others when there are big storylines, travel to other events or personal days that drivers are having — they gather so much footage.
If anything, it now gets too much access and then teams and drivers are unhappy if they don’t make the cut having given up so much time, but that’s always going to be the byproduct of capturing everything.
The key, though, was being able to get fans to truly connect with the personalities and the humans. When you make that click, then the sport becomes so much more attractive to more people, who can see beyond simply the fight for first place. That’s been what made it so big I think, and being first to do that so well in the world of racing has really helped.
Q: The goose that laid the golden egg: That would be Netflix’s “Drive to Survive,” the show credited with F1’s huge increase in popularity. It’s something I expect F1’s owners Liberty Media are delighted with; however I doubt Liberty is nearly as happy with Red Bull’s complete and utter domination of the series.
All those freshly minted fans tuning into the race only to see Max win by a country mile might not bother to come back. Fewer eyeballs means fewer dollars, a commodity we know F1 is very keen on as evidenced by its rejection of Andretti and GM’s attempt to join the party because it meant dividing the pie into smaller pieces.
What if anything can or should the FIA and or F1 do to slow the Red Bulls down? If this was IMSA they’d have a couple of hundred extra pounds strapped on.
David Kincaid, Vancouver, Canada
CM: Your questions isn’t a silly one given the fact that in the past we’ve seen regulation changes introduced on many occasions that appear targeted at a team’s advantage, but in this case you could argue that’s already happened. The rules around the floors were changed from 2022 to 2023 and Red Bull only became more dominant, while this year stability set up more of the same.
That said, Mercedes and Ferrari are both confident they are closer than at the same point last year and have better cars that give them a better chance of closing the gap, while McLaren also stated they will be introducing some significant developments soon. So perhaps it won’t be a repeat of last year, with the stability allowing those teams to iron out major problems they had 12 months ago.
But under a cost cap era when Red Bull can’t spend its way to success, and with the sliding scale of aerodynamic development time that penalizes the championship-winning team, it feels like there are enough levers that should see Red Bull slowly caught over the next year or two. And if it doesn’t happen, there’s a whole reset planned in 2026 with new regulations.