Guenther Steiner sends clear message to Red Bull as off-track saga rolls on

Guenther Steiner hopes his former team Red Bull, “for the sake of Formula 1”, put an end to their off-track saga as he highlighted a potential challenge to come on the track.

Red Bull has picked up where they left off by dominating the F1 competition, Max Verstappen heading a pair of 1-2 finishes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, yet it is what is going on off the track at Red Bull which arguably is attracting the most attention.

Guenther Steiner wants Red Bull on-track focus as Ferrari loom

Despite Red Bull GmbH dismissing a case brought against Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner by a fellow employee following an internal investigation, speculation regarding his future continues to rumble on, with senior advisor Helmut Marko and Verstappen himself recently caught up in the Red Bull exit talk.

However, Steiner hopes that for Formula 1’s benefit, Red Bull will be able to put a lid on all of this and fast.

Speaking to ABC ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, Steiner said: “In the higher ranks of the company, there will be… some people rethinking what they want to do.

“I hope that for the sake of Formula 1 … they put an end to it … and we move on.”

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And Steiner believes it would be especially wise to focus on the track because he could foresee Ferrari becoming a contender against Red Bull during the current F1 2024 season.

While Steiner admitted that he “honestly thought this year [would] have been closer, but the opposite happened”, likening the current grid to a two-tier competition as “you have got five teams on the top and then five teams on the bottom almost like two championships”, he still has hope for the on-track competition to come.

And that is in regards to what happens at the front, which has so far been that story of total Red Bull dominance.

The final podium spot has been claimed by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia respectively, though Steiner thinks the Scuderia could upgrade to battles with Red Bull for victories in the second-half of F1 2024.

“I think Ferrari this year, if they’ve had good progress in development … they could challenge Red Bull hopefully [in the] second half of the season,” Steiner suggested.

Red Bull’s three-time World Champion Verstappen goes into the Australian Grand Prix knowing victory would see him match his own record winning streak of 10 grands prix in a row.

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