F1's Red Bull Turmoil Is An Image Car Crash

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Formula 1 is a frequently dull sport, with too many races turning into a procession for the dominant driver and car of the moment. Organizers found a way to make it more compelling by focusing on the human drama behind the scenes — with spectacular results. The hit Netflix documentary helped attract a new cohort of fans to F1, especially female and younger audiences, leading to a renewed spurt of viewership and revenue growth. The sport’s backers are now finding out you can have too much of a good thing.

F1 has been in turmoil for more than a month, after Red Bull Racing’s team principal, Christian Horner, was accused of inappropriate behavior toward a female employee. Horner has denied the allegations. The increased profile of F1 and of Horner, who is one of the stars of have ensured a deluge of media coverage. The team’s Austrian parent, energy-drinks maker Red Bull GmbH, dismissed the complaint last month after an investigation by an external barrister, but this didn’t quell the furor. A link to unverified documents including screenshots of WhatsApp messages purporting to relate to the investigation was subsequently emailed to F1 officials and journalists.

For sponsors, this can’t go away soon enough. There’s not much chance they will get their wish. On Thursday, Red Bull suspended the woman at the center of the allegations on full pay, according to multiple reports in British media, ensuring a fresh bout of headlines. The story brings together such a cocktail of tabloid-catnip elements that it looks sure to keep running until there is a definitive — and transparent — resolution.

F1 is glamorous to begin with, a dangerous sport featuring dashing young men who joust at speeds of up to 370 kilometers per hour. Add to this that Horner, himself a former racing driver, is married to a pop star: Geri Halliwell of the Spice Girls. Further, the episode has fomented conflict within the sport. Jos Verstappen, the father of Red Bull’s current and three-time world champion Max, has said the team will “explode” if Horner remains in his position.

All this threatens to overshadow a period of marked success for F1 and tarnish its project to fashion a more diverse, inclusive and environmentally friendly sport. US billionaire John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. bought Formula One Group from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners Ltd. in 2016, saying it saw opportunities to expand in the US and Asia. The F1 calendar now has three races in the US, the most of any nation, and the female fan base has quintupled to more than 40% of the total from 8% in 2017. After the interruption of the pandemic, revenue has climbed for three years, expanding 25% to $3.2 billion in 2023.

Remaking the image of a sport like F1 was always likely to run into a road bump or two. It carries the legacy of a testosterone-fueled, male-dominated bastion where bad behavior was far from unknown. This, after all, is the sport where one former world champion, James Hunt, smoked 40 cigarettes a day, drank heavily, used drugs and was fond of walking around in bare feet even at official engagements (Hunt’s rivalry with another world champion, Niki Lauda, was made into a memorably watchable film, , by Ron Howard).

For corporate sponsors with diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and a need to respond to changed social expectations, the adverse publicity of the Red Bull episode is a problem. Ford Motor Co., which has a power unit partnership with Red Bull that will start in 2026, has already expressed concern, with Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley writing to the team last month that he was “increasingly frustrated” by the lack of a resolution. Red Bull released its statement dismissing the employee’s complaint days later.

Sponsors are key to the team’s financing: Its title agreement with Oracle Corp. is worth $100 million a year, according to the Associated Press; other partners include Visa Inc., Walmart Inc. and cryptocurrency exchange Bybit.

The effect on F1’s viewership and broader public appeal is harder to gauge. Arguably, it may not be negative at all. succeeded so well because it opened the door on the hopes and fears, the petty rivalries and backbiting of people in the F1 world. The drivers were no longer just anonymous helmets whizzing round on a circuit: They were human beings with ambitions and vulnerabilities, a back story.

The Red Bull controversy is in effect more of the same: a lurid soap opera being played out through the news pages rather than on a streaming service. That may encourage even more people to watch the races. We don’t need all our protagonists to be heroes. We just need to find them interesting.

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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Matthew Brooker is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering business and infrastructure. Formerly, he was an editor for Bloomberg News and the South China Morning Post.

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