Horner's race at Red Bull has been run for some time

An 18-month battle for superiority has finally concluded with Christian Horner proving the fall guy

- Kieran Jackson

For a team very much accustomed to shock announcements, this was the bombshell to end all bombshells from Red Bull. After giving an emotional farewell to stunned staff at the team's HQ at around 10am, Christian Horner drove away from the Milton Keynes campus - the site he built from the bottom up - for the last time yesterday morning. Horner's exit after two decades as Red Bull Racing's team principal, and later F1 CEO, would not have been earth-shattering at the start of last season. Division in the sport's top outfit, in the wake of allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” levelled at Horner from a female colleague, was well documented.

Yet the embattled team boss was cleared twice by two independent investigations, and he was at the forefront as his star driver Max Verstappen won a fourth consecutive world championship. On the face of it, it seemed Horner had weaved his way through the storm and come out the other side, perhaps stronger than ever.

But for this news to come now, halfway through the 2025 season, has come as a shock to the whole paddock. The sport's longest-serving team boss, who never missed a race in two decades, will not be present in the paddock in Belgium later this month for the first time since the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix, at least in an official capacity.

The reality is that this decision has been brewing in Red Bull circles – not least the base of parent company Red Bull GmbH in Salzburg, Austria, where today's decision emanated from - for some time. It is not the sole reason, but a power struggle within the team’s ecosystem has been at play for 18 months. Finally, the rope has snapped.

The death of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz in October 2022, a man who backed Horner in F1 operations, marked the start of a turbulent period at the energy drinks outfit. Slightly ironic given the team were in a period of unprecedented dominance on the track. Indeed, in 2023, they won every grand prix bar one.