Horner, Ford CEO, meet to patch up broken relationship

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner and Ford CEO Jim Farley are beginning to patch up their fractured relationship.

In the heat of the scandals surrounding Horner earlier this year, Farley wrote a letter to Red Bull Racing expressing his concerns.

"As we have previously stated, and without receiving a satisfactory response, the values Ford is committed to are non-negotiable," Farley wrote in late February.

"We are also frustrated by the lack of full transparency around this issue from us, your business partners, and look forward to a full report of all findings."

Red Bull and Ford are collaborating for the all-new Formula 1 engine project called Red Bull Powertrains, which will power both of the energy drink company’s F1 teams from 2026.

According to De Telegraaf, Horner and Farley did not exchange a single word since the Ford CEO wrote the letter, which would obviously be a spanner in the words of the Red Bull-Ford collaboration.

But that has now changed, with Farley having attended the Italian GP at Monza. The Dutch newspaper said the 62-year-old Ford CEO and Horner sat down for a meeting on Saturday.

And on Sunday, Red Bull majority Thai shareholder Chalerm Yoovidhya, and Red Bull co-CEO Oliver Mintzlaff also met at Monza, as the team now tries to calm the remaining rough waters of the damaging leadership spat.

"It has to be said quite clearly that all this bickering in the team over the last six months has obviously left its mark," Gerhard Berger, who was the first-ever Red Bull-backed athlete, told Kronen Zeitung at Monza.

"The fire alarms must be going off now," he added.

A Red Bull spokesman confirmed that Farley and Horner spoke extensively on Saturday.

"The meeting went well," he said. "They talked for about an hour about the plans for next year and for 2026."

Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher, however, believes Red Bull will now struggle to implement the changes required to fix the nose-diving performance of the 2024 car.

"For me, the situation is set for the time being," he told Sky Deutschland.

"With all this uncertainty, more heads will roll and many people will be unhappy. They are under pressure from all sides."