Christian Horner is being missed in the title fight between Red Bull Racing and McLaren. Especially by F1 fans, but possibly also to some extent by Max Verstappen.
“There are always some games being played,” Fernando Alonso said on Thursday about the role of mind games in a title battle. “When you see your competitor on track, in FP1, in FP2, a remark in the media to put the other side under pressure.”
If there’s anyone who knows how a title fight is won or lost, it’s the Spaniard. Not only has the Aston Martin driver been around forever, he won two titles and missed out on two other big chances in 2010 and 2012. Yet those mind games seem to be missing in the 2025 title battle.
Verstappen plays mind games with title rivals
Max Verstappen knows how to play the game. Although the Dutchman never openly talks about these kinds of games, it’s clear that with certain comments he knows he can easily get under the skin of his rivals.
Verstappen has done that to Norris more than once in 2024 and 2025. The remark that he would have already been champion long ago if he were in a McLaren rubbed Norris the wrong way again recently. When Norris fired back in the press conference in Qatar, Verstappen chuckled: “Things aren’t going so well for him, are they?”
Verstappen knows full well how to play this game. He knows what pushes the buttons of Norris and Zak Brown, just as he sensed it well with Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff in 2021. In multiple situations, Verstappen also had the mental upper hand back then, while the other camp could sometimes boil over.
Christian Horner always played an important role in this as well. Because although you can have your reservations about how the last year and a half of his Red Bull era unfolded, Horner was, to his final day, a gifted politician. Someone who knew exactly what to say and when to say it.
Like Verstappen, Horner also knew exactly which buttons to press to get Toto, Lewis, Zak, or Lando worked up. Even in ’24, the Brit wasn’t above a jab at the McLaren drivers, who would then be confronted with it in the next media session.
And as petty as it sounds, that’s what you want in a title fight. To throw the opponent off their game, to make sure they have to answer another awkward question from a journalist. To prevent them from rolling out the standard PR line about how beautiful the circuit is and that this weekend is just a “normal” weekend.
Verstappen doesn’t get rattled by title stress
It’s also a battle in which Max shines, as was evident in 2021. Even Hamilton, a seven-time world champion, seemed more affected by Red Bull’s pinpricks than Verstappen was by the jabs from the other camp. In the fight with McLaren, where Lando in particular often reacts irritated to such remarks, Horner could have played a role.
With Laurent Mekies, they now have a team boss who has put the team into a more positive flow. Partly because of that, Verstappen is still in the title hunt and there is, once again, a sense of one team at Red Bull. Something that was no longer the case in the last year and a half of Horner’s tenure.
Something Mekies has less of a feel for is the political game. Mekies, as an engineer would be, is mainly focused on Red Bull's own performance. Red Bull will also focus primarily on itself this weekend and doesn’t want to pay attention to McLaren.
This puts Zak Brown and his men in an easier situation. Normally they always had to respond to Horner, but now that’s not necessary because the jabs from Mekies are absent. They sit together on the couch amicably. Like friends. Certainly not like rivals.
And that’s the feeling that lingers after the press conference with Laurent Mekies and Zak Brown in Abu Dhabi. It’s all very friendly. They seem just a bit too willing to grant each other success. Remarkable, considering this isn’t about something everyday, but about a Formula 1 world title. Opportunities like that don’t come around often.
You miss the fire that belongs in a title fight. In 2021 it perhaps went too far between Mercedes and Red Bull Racing, but in 2025 it seems to have swung completely the other way. Everyone likes each other and they all grant each other the title. You miss a bit of the fire of someone like Horner.
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