Without wishing to scaremonger, it has to be said that things don't look too good at Red Bull at present.

Although it was clear that there was trouble afoot, with a clear split between the various factions in Austria and the UK, nobody quite expected Tony Purnell and David Pitchforth to be ruthlessly dumped just over seven weeks before the start of the season.

Furthermore, if you go back just a few weeks, who would have seriously predicted that Christian Horner, at that time involved in his own bid to purchase Jordan, would be drafted in as new team manager?

It's understood that the announcement(s) caused shock in Milton Keynes, while in Austria Dr Helmut Marko must have been rubbing his bands in glee. When the Austrian reminded Pitchforth that he was merely an employee, Pitpass warned that the writing was on the wall.

However, the firing of Purnell and Pitchforth, together with the hiring of Horner, are merely the latest episodes in a whole series of odd, and somewhat worrying, decisions involving the Austrian team and its boss.

First, we had Mr Mateschitz making it quite clear that David Coulthard was not under consideration by his team. Then, a few days later, he revealed that the Scottish veteran was his number one priority.

At the team's Christmas lunch, journalists present were told, by both Pitchforth and Purnell, that no decision regarding Coulthard had been made, and that the final decision would come from Austria. Both men also insisted that the announcement probably wouldn't be made until the New Year, after the first tests had taken place.

Four days later, DC was signed.

To add to the confusion, Red Bull has now signed both Christian Klien and Vitantonio Liuzzi, though the team has yet to decide who will race and who will test - even though Klien cannot drive the third car in Friday testing.

Clearly, people like Marko, much like royal courtiers, have Mateschitz' ear, but then again, the Red Bull boss has been known to come up with some very odd decisions of his own, not least the fall out with Peter Sauber when the Swiss team owner opted for Kimi Raikkonen over Enrique Bernoldi.

Even after just a few short weeks, Red Bull Racing appears to be in disarray, which does not bode well for the future.

The big worry is, with Purnell and Pitchforth out of the way, and various other parties all having their own vested interests, is David Coulthard's seat secure?

From where we sit, it doesn't seem so.