On this day 16 years ago, one of the most dramatic incidents in the history of the Red Bull F1 operation unfolded.

Red Bull’s 2010 Turkish Grand Prix ended in one of Formula 1’s most infamous displays of internal collapse, a dramatic collision between teammates that exposed a rift within the team that would take years to mend.

On lap 40 in Istanbul, Red Bull were on the cusp of a commanding one-two finish with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber leading the field. By lap 41, the dream collapsed into a chaos of damaged front wings and shattered momentum. The critical moment came when Vettel, running second behind Webber, had been instructed to save fuel by dropping his engine mode. The difference in pace contributed to the tension as Vettel closed in on the back straight after Turn 11.

Vettel then edged to the inside as they braked for Turn 12, drawing level with Webber. In a flash, the two cars made contact as Vettel surged onto the racing line. Their wheels collided at high speed, sending Vettel spinning out and forcing his retirement, while Webber emerged with a damaged front wing but continued.

The pit lane moment that followed made the scene even more dramatic. Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button capitalized on the moment to seize a McLaren one-two, a result that seemed almost inevitable given Red Bull’s misfortune. Webber, though able to recover to third, was left furious by the incident and the unraveling of what had been a flawless race.

Post-race, Webber offered the blunt assessment that Vettel had simply gotten a faster run down the straight and moved into the racing line too aggressively. “Sebastian had a bit of a top speed advantage, he went down the inside and we were side by side. I was surprised when he came right suddenly, as I was holding my racing line,” Webber explained. Vettel, for his part, claimed that he “was there, I was ahead and focusing on the braking point and then we touched. Mark’s car hit my rear right wheel and I went off, there’s not much more to say.”

The incident did not end with a simple on-track accident; it exposed a brewing internal fault line within Red Bull. Team principal Christian Horner initially suggested that Webber hadn’t left Vettel enough room, before adjusting his stance to label the incident a “racing accident that shouldn’t have happened between two teammates.” Horner’s evolving stance reflected the delicate balance the team tried to maintain between two drivers who were both championship contenders.

Inside the team, dynamics grew increasingly strained. Helmut Marko, the team’s respected but often polarizing advisor, gave weight to Vettel’s side of the narrative, publicly supporting the German driver’s perspective. Marko’s stance, paired with the way the team handled the aftermath, highlighted a culture where rivalries within the same garage could threaten a season’s prospects.

The Turkish GP moment proved to be a turning point for Red Bull. It did more than deprive Vettel of victory; it exposed a rift that would linger long after the flag dropped. The fallout extended beyond the 2010 season, shaping how the team managed driver relationships in the years that followed. The two drivers would continue to push each other fiercely, but the 2010 collision at Istanbul remained a stark reminder of how quickly internal competition can derail a team’s on-track supremacy.