Red Bull’s sacking of Christian Horner stunned the sporting world as Formula 1’s longest-serving team principal was suddenly removed with immediate effect.
In a statement released on Wednesday confirming Horner’s departure, Red Bull did not provide a reason for the 51-year-old’s exit after 20 years at the helm.
Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle revealed Horner had told him “no reason was given” by Red Bull, who promoted Laurent Mekies from his position in charge of junior squad Racing Bulls to replace the Brit.
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Following his sacking after 20 years as team principal, Christian Horner gave an emotional goodbye to the Red Bull staff and says it was the biggest privilege of his life
While a sudden mid-season departure for Horner comes as a shock, the turbulent nature of his final 18 months at the helm leave plenty of potential reasons as to why Red Bull came to the decision.
With the dust yet to settle on Horner’s exit, Sky Sports F1 analyses the factors that could have played a part in his demise.
Red Bull on a downward trend?
After a record-breaking 2023 season that saw Max Verstappen romp to the drivers’ title as Red Bull won 21 of the 22 races, they started 2024 in dominant style with four victories from five rounds.
But they were suddenly caught by Ferrari and McLaren from the Miami Grand Prix in May 2024 onwards, with Verstappen needing his early points buffer to hold off Lando Norris to claim his fourth successive drivers’ title.
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Martin Brundle reflects on the news that Christian Horner has been sacked by Red Bull with immediate effect after 20 years as team principal of the Formula 1 team
That rollercoaster form from the second half of last year has continued this season, with Red Bull clearly a step behind McLaren, with their growing deficit to the leaders approaching 300 points at the halfway point of the season.
Horner has overseen periods where Red Bull have not been winning so this is not a new situation. However, the sudden drop in form – within a regulations cycle – was a concern and something that had rarely been seen in F1.
While the dip would undoubtedly be of concern to the Red Bull hierarchy, Horner is only six months removed from achieving the rare feat of overseeing four drivers’ titles in a row, so this season’s performance alone was surely not enough to see him removed from his role.
Red Bull’s second seat woes
While Verstappen has probably been McLaren’s most consistent challenger this season, an embarrassing sideshow for Horner has been playing out on the other side of the Red Bull garage.
His judgement had already come under scrutiny when Sergio Perez had to be paid off by the team when he was dropped at the end of last season, just six months after receiving a contract extension.
The situation deteriorated at the start of this year when Horner demoted Liam Lawson to Racing Bulls just two races into the season after he had decided to promote the New Zealander over the more experienced Yuki Tsunoda.
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Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and Williams driver Carlos Sainz both suffered early exits during qualifying in Spain
The Japanese driver has since fared little better, generally finishing behind Lawson and his Racing Bulls team-mate Isack Hadjar.
It’s not a new problem for Red Bull. Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon, who are both now established as extremely solid F1 drivers, were quickly let go in 2019 and 2020 after failing to match Verstappen, but the gulf between the team’s cars this season has been more extreme than ever.
Whether you view it as poor driver selection or a fundamental issue in allowing the car to become too difficult to drive for anyone not named Max, neither theory reflects particularly well on Horner.
Was it ‘Verstappen or Horner’?
Red Bull effectively becoming a one-car team over the last couple of years has given Verstappen and – perhaps more importantly – his advisors immense power.
While Verstappen’s relationship with Horner always appeared solid, the same could not be said for his father, Jos. The pair were involved in a feud early in 2024 which saw the former F1 driver publicly call for Horner’s departure.
The situation appeared to steady but there was a sense the extremity of the fallout would make it difficult for the relationship to ever be truly repaired. Meanwhile, the younger Verstappen has never attempted to disguise his trust and loyalty towards his father.
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On The F1 Show, Ted Kravitz suggests Jos and Max Verstappen won the power struggle at Red Bull over Christian Horner, who has been sacked as team principal
With that in mind, fast forward to this summer, when the big talking point in F1 over the last few weeks has been Verstappen’s future, after Mercedes boss Toto Wolff confirmed “conversations” were taking place behind closed doors with the Dutchman’s camp, which consists of his father, plus manager Raymond Vermeulen.
One theory that has emerged following Horner’s sacking is that, with the team more reliant on Verstappen than ever, his camp could have used their leverage to pressure the owners into removing Horner by suggesting the four-time world champion would be more likely to stay if there was a change at the top.
Verstappen is contracted to Red Bull until 2028 but the deal is known to contain release clauses. After Wolff’s recent comments, Verstappen refused to commit his future to the team as he largely avoided questions on the topic.
It will therefore be fascinating to see how the situation plays out. If Verstappen stays next year, some might assume a link. If he leaves, that notion would be dispelled.
Allegations against Horner still having an impact?
The biggest blow to Horner’s authority and standing at Red Bull came in February 2024, when allegations of inappropriate behaviour were made against him by a female colleague.
The nature of the allegations, which he denied throughout, placed Horner’s position in jeopardy, but he survived something of a media frenzy and was cleared by a Red Bull investigation. An appeal against the decision made by the female Red Bull employee was then dismissed.
It was around this situation that Horner’s feud with Jos Verstappen blew up, with the Dutchman saying the accusations had made Horner’s position untenable.
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Sky Sports F1’s Craig Slater breaks down why, after 20 years in charge, team principal Christian Horner has left Red Bull
Horner had enough support from at least part of the team’s ownership to remain, but for whatever reason, it appears to have diminished.
Sky Sports News’ Craig Slater said on Wednesday: “Red Bull co-owner Chalerm Yoovidhya had previously been an ally of Christian Horner’s and had supported him while those investigations into some issues at the company involving Horner had been ongoing for the last couple of years – the female member of staff making allegations which two internal investigations cleared him of.
“Yoovidhya stood by Horner during this time. My understanding is that support eventually has gone away.”
High-profile departures at Red Bull
The scandal also closely coincided with some extremely high-profile departures from Red Bull.
While movement of personnel is very normal within F1, the loss of three of the most important figures in Red Bull’s success did not look good for Horner.
The most significant was undoubtedly legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey, who had been with Horner at Red Bull from almost the very beginning.
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Christian Horner jokingly describes Adrian Newey as a ‘giant bogey’ when first spotting him in new Aston Martin kit since leaving Red Bull
A once close relationship between the pair had deteriorated, with the allegations against Horner understood to have been a factor in Newey’s decision to leave, which was confirmed in May 2024 before he later joined Aston Martin as managing technical partner.
Before Newey’s exit, chief designer Rob Marshall had departed in 2023 to join McLaren. McLaren usurping Red Bull as the sport’s dominant team might be something to do with that.
Then most recently, sporting director Jonathan Wheatley left to become team principal at Sauber, the outfit that will become Audi next year.
While some departures are inevitable, allowing three stalwarts to exit in such a short period doesn’t look great, especially with results dipping off the back of it.
A victim in Red Bull’s power struggle?
There had also been significant change to the dynamic above Horner. Since the death of Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz in October 2022, there has been an apparent power struggle to establish control of the team.
Horner was at the centre of it and had the backing from Thailand’s Yoovidhya, but not Mark Mateschitz, the son of Dietrich Mateschitz, who owns 49 per cent of the business.
Mateschitz hasn’t retained hands-on control of the team in the same way his father did, with Red Bull head of sport Oliver Mintzlaff, who also oversees the company’s football operations, becoming more prominent.
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Martin Brundle praised the impact Christian Horner had as team principal at Red Bull following the shock news that he has been relieved of his duties
It was Mintzlaff who was responsible for thanking Horner for his service in the statement via which Red Bull confirmed the sacking.
Horner wielded significant power within the organisation but that appeared to be eroded from 2022 onwards, even with the success he was still enjoying on track.
Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz said: “It seems to be the Austrian side of the business, backed by Jos Verstappen, has won the power struggle.
“They have managed to convince Christian’s backers that it was not tenable for him to carry on. What was it related to will come out in time.”
A sign Red Bull’s 2026 engine is not on track?
Next year will see what most consider to be the biggest regulation change in the sport’s history, with the introduction of more environmentally friendly engines a major element.
Red Bull set up their own engine division, Red Bull Powertrains, to build their own power unit for the first time.
It would be tough for any new engine manufacturer to immediately compete with experienced rivals like Mercedes and Ferrari, but the complexity of the new regulations would appear to heighten the challenge.
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Christian Horner dismissed rumours linking him to Ferrari back in June and remained adamant his future was at Red Bull
There has been speculation in the F1 paddock that Mercedes are leading the way in 2026 engine development, along with suggestions that Red Bull are struggling.
As far as we know, that is only gossip, but if Red Bull’s bosses have been informed the project isn’t going smoothly, that could have influenced their perception of the job Horner’s doing.
We’ll have to wait until 2026 pre-season testing to get some clues as to whether the powertrains project may have been an issue.
F1 takes a brief break before the season resumes at the Belgian Grand Prix as the Sprint format returns, live on Sky Sports F1 on July 25-27. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.
