Christian Horner claims that there was no reason given to him for his sudden and immediate release from Red Bull.
Horner served as Team Principal at the Milton Keynes-based team for 20 years, leading Red Bull to 8 driver’s titles and 6 constructor’s titles.
The news comes after weeks of speculation about the future of Max Verstappen. The Dutchman is rumoured to be entertaining contract talks with Mercedes.
Sky Sports F1‘s Martin Brundle claims that Horner revealed to him that no explanation given to his exit.
“I’m due to speak to Christian a bit later in the day. I got a message through to him to saying, ‘Sorry to read that [on his exit]. In fact, I said to him, ‘Can we have a chat before I have to go on TV’, because I wanted to know more about it from his point of view, and he wasn’t able to do that.
“What he did say to me was that no reason was given to him as to why he’s been released. So that’s the only hard information I have on that.”
Things at Red Bull “not particularly rosy”
Brundle added that the news “came out of the blue”, but there may have been “problems in the team”.
“I’m quite sad about it, if I’m honest. I consider Christian a friend, and he’s done an incredible job there for 20 years, won an awful lot of races and world championships for drivers and for the team. He took it from what was the Stewart team through Jaguar, and it was struggling, to a massive campus in Milton Keynes and an awful lot of success and a huge trophy cabinet.
“But it’s not been difficult to feel in the Formula 1 paddock, to observe and to hear, that things were not particularly rosy.”
Horner’s position at Red Bull has been previously questioned, after claims of inappropriate behaviour towards a female employee were lodged against him last year.
He was cleared of any wrongdoing, but the allegations were a contributing factor to Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey’s departure. Sporting director Jonathan Wheatley also left the team last season.
Brundle suggested that these events were probably part of Horner being fired, but it was probably performance related as well. The team are currently 4th in the Constructor’s standings, almost 300 points behind McLaren at the top.
What next?
Horner will be replaced by Laurent Mekies, who was previously Team Principal at Red Bull junior team Racing Bulls. Mekies will be replaced at Racing Bulls by Sporting Director Alan Permane.
Verstappen’s future is still uncertain. This could be the final nail in the coffin to confirm his exit from the team and pursue a contract with Mercedes, or it could be a factor for his continued partnership with the team amongst rumours that his own team, including father Jos Verstappen, had pushed for Horner to be fired.
Brundle believes that this gives reason for Verstappen to stay:
“I think it makes it more likely that [Max] Verstappen will stay there. I think that became quite personal with, shall we call it Team Verstappen.
“There are a number of aspects, but particularly that the car is struggling, although they’ve won races this year, of course. They’ve won races brilliantly this year. But you know, nothing’s forever. Things move on, and Red Bull have already put in place significant changes.”
