I think Mateschitz is playing a classic Piranha Club move. He knows very well that F1 requires sharp elbows to be successful, and he's just deploying a pair to protect his investment. Equally, I think if he did fold up his tent over this one episode, the damage to his brand would be massive. It would make the Red Bull brand seem petulant and unable to stay the course. I think this is brinkmanship. I suspect that he knows that he's unlikely to win this battle, and faced with that, is going try and capitalize on that for maximum political effect so that he has a greater chance of getting his way in future.
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