Christian Horner “shocked” after Red Bull gives him the boot

Officially, Christian Horner will still be an employee of Red Bull but he will no longer be involved in any operations nor will he sit on the throne.  

The 51-year-old British F1 mogul did, however, tell his former staff members that he was shocked at the decision to replace. Horner also teared up while telling Red Bull staff what the 20-year-tenure meant to him. 

Horner was just 30 years old when he began his reign at Red Bull which was called Jaguar at the time, and has undoubtedly left his mark on the sport. 

Red Bull are now but a shadow of their former prowess, having lost key members like Adrian Newey, Jonathan Wheatley, Rob Marshall and now Horner. Their departures do pose an opportunity for other engineers, designers and future team Principals to step up. 

“Operationally, the baton will be handed over and obviously that’s a shock to myself. But I have had a chance to reflect over the last 12 hours or so and I wanted to stand in front of all of you and express my gratitude to each and every single member of the team that has given so much during the last 20 and a half years that I’ve been here,” Horner said before breaking down into tears on stage in front of Red Bull staff. 

“When I arrived 20 years ago, there were a few less great days. I walked into a team and didn’t  know what to expect but was immediately welcomed.

"Out of two run down buildings we started to build what became a powerhouse in Formula 1. Watching and being a part of this team has been the biggest privilege in my life.

As for the rest of the season, Racing Bulls Principal Laurent Mekies will step up the ladder and assume command of what has appeared to be a very difficult task this season - putting a fast, balanced car on the track. Alan Permane will take over as team Principal of the Racing Bulls. 

Mekies is no spring chicken when it comes to F1, and even has experience on the other side of the curtain where he served as Safety Director for the FIA for a period. 

He also worked at Ferrari and has performed well with the team he has at Racing Bulls this season. It’s for that reason that perhaps Red Bull saw no reason to look outside the company for Horner’s successor. 

Many fans are now speculating that this isn’t the end of Christian Horner in F1, and suggested that Flavio Briatore rope him into team Alpine, according to a Dutch media publication. Ferrari may also be an option for Horner, given that Fred Vasseur's contract expires at the end of this season. 

Vasseur has not really been given enough time to prove himself so maybe Ferrari’s board won’t let him go just yet. But with the amount of upsets, accidents and breaking headlines this season, you never know what may happen. Horner’s reaction to the thought of moving to Ferrari didn’t really support the theory as well. 

“My Italian is worse than Flavio's English, so how is that supposed to work?," he said in Spain earlier this year. 

Given Horner’s track record at Red Bull and with their culture of promoting within the ranks from junior to senior, he may be better suited to the culture at Alpine than at Ferrari.

Alpine also has a solid driver in Pierre Gasly, who has been on top performance this season, and even competing with the pace leaders during many practice and qualifying sessions. 

The future, at this point, also looks a bit grim for Max Verstappen with the new leadership and new dynamic within the team that comes with it.

Mekies may have to fall at the feet of Max Verstappen racing and continue prioritising him or he may just be the one to build a car that works for both drivers in the team.