After a record-breaking year in Formula 1 in 2023, the two most powerful figures at Red Bull enjoyed bumper salary rises, with Christian Horner enjoying a sizeable increase in earnings.
Red Bull was unstoppable in 2023, as the team won all but one of the 22 races, 19 of which Max Verstappen took en route to a dominant third consecutive Drivers’ Championship.
2024 started off in the same vein, with three dominant one-two finishes in the first four races fuelling fears of another all-conquering season for the Milton-Keynes-based outfit.
However, political strife has threatened to tear the team apart, with a series of scandals breaking out, including the dismissal of allegations of inappropriate behaviour from Horner towards a female employee.
The team will also see high-profile exits at the end of the year, including Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley and, notably, Chief Technology Officer Adrian Newey, who will switch to Aston Martin next season.
However, away from the challenges, Red Bull’s two most senior men saw their salaries substantially increase as they continued to attempt to steer the team through its turbulent 2024 season.
Bumper salary rises for Red Bull’s elite
As reported by The Times, Horner earned a staggering £8.92 million in 2023 as Director of Red Bull Technologies Ltd, an 11% increase on the £8.04 million from 2022.
Team Advisor Helmut Marko, as a Director of Red Bull Racing, saw his salary double from £3.5 million in 2022 to £7 million in 2023, despite the ongoing issues with the Young Driver Programme.
With the 2024 season drawing to a close, Red Bull will likely secure one championship, as Max Verstappen now seems all but certain to win the drivers’ title after his win in Brazil.
The victory ended a 10-race win drought that has seen the team fall behind McLaren and Ferrari in the Constructors Championship, with a substantial prize money gap now a real possibility.
This will likely impact the salaries of Horner and Marko going into 2025, and a much less dramatic increase is likely as the team seeks to recover lost ground from a rocky championship campaign.
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