Why Red Bull Christian Horner rejected and what it could mean for Max Verstappen

The longest-made team head on the Formula 1 grid has left.

After weeks of speculation about the future of Max Verstappen at Red Bull, it is Christian Horner who leaves the team. It was announced on Wednesday that Horner is leaving with immediate effect, and that Visa Cash App Racing Bulls team director Laurent Mekies would move to that role at the Senior Team.

But although this news that is currently coming, can be a shock, according to reporting ‘fault lines’ that were formed within the organization that ultimately took place in recent days. According to Sky Sports F1 Analyst Craig SlaterHorner’s most important mainstay in Red Bull recently gave place.

Error lines at Red Bull F1

“In terms of why he and Red Bull went on their way, we have to look at the fault lines that have been in that team for some time. Part of it is the distributed ownership of the team. 49% of the Red Bull Company is owned by the Mateschitz family,” said Slater.

“Mark Mateschitz The son of Dietrich Mateschitz owns 49% of the company. That Section Austrian ownership largely had control over the various sports projects, in particular the F1 team.

“51% was Thai owned. Chalerm Yoovidhya who had previously been an ally of Christian Horner and had supported him, while those investigations into some issues were involved in the company in which Christian Horner was underway, the female staff member who had carefully cleared the Christian Horner to the Christian Horner.

“Chalerm Yoovidhya was at this time with Christian Horner. My understanding is that the support eventually disappeared.”

Last year there was another error line, around the time of that investigation into alleged misconduct within the team. That was a error line between Horner and Jos Verstappen, the father of Max Verstappen. While Red Bull started a strong start last year on the track, tensions brewed behind the scenes and in the paddock.

Jos shot Horner in an interview with the Daily mail At the start of last season.

“There is tension here while he stays in position,” said the older Verstappen. “The team threatens to be torn apart. It cannot be on the way. It will explode. He plays the victim when he is the one who causes the problems.”

After the publication of that interview, reports emerged in a tense, animated meeting between the older Verstappen and Horner in the Red Bull Paddock for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Sky Italy issued A short video of 19 seconds from the meeting, in which Horner can be seen many times during the discussion.

Those stories started reports from a “Civil war”At Red Bull, and a new round of” Max to Mercedes “rumors through the paddock. While a sit-down Between Horner and Verstappen’s representatives in Dubai, the temperature apparently brought down, the struggles of the team to start 2025, only had to choose from those cut wounds.

Important departure at Red Bull

But there are more error lines. Red Bull has passed several important departure in recent months. Jonathan Wheatley, the sports director of the team for years, now serves as a team principle at Sauber. Rob Marshall, one of their most important designers, now enjoys an incredible run at McLaren.

There is another departure at the end of this season, because Honda leaves as the supplier of Power Unit for Red Bull to join forces with Aston Martin. Red Bull develops their own units in collaboration with Ford, and those components will arrive next season.

And of course you have Adrian Newey, a living legend, who now wears his famous notebook in the garage of Aston Martin.

Then there are the decisions of the driver who have pointed out some points of sale for another reason for the departure of Horner. The proverbial “Second Seat of Death” has been a problem for Red Bull alongside Verstappen in the past seasons. While Sergio Pérez scored a stage finish last season in four of the first five races – which led to a new deal that he signed for the Canadian Grand Prix from 2024 – he struggled when Red Bull faded from title conflicts, and he was eventually rejected after the 2024 campaign.

Red Bull turned to Liam Lawson to start the 2025 season, but he was relegated after just two races, replaced by Yuki Tsunoda. The veteran also did not deliver in the RB21 and only scored seven points for ten racing weekends.

Then there is the simple fact that this year’s challenger, the RB21, has not met expectations. Deviations such as Newey and Marshall certainly played a role, but Horner is the boss and the proverbial goat stops there.

More about this in an instant.

A power struggle in the paddock

In the end this was a “power struggle” that Horner lost, according to Sky Sports F1.

“The other aspect for all this has been the uncomfortable relationship between Horner and let’s call it the Verstappens, in particular Jos Verstappen, the father of Max Verstappen,” said Slater.

“It is still a big surprise because this was a team that still won races, this year won races and Christian Horner has definitely played an important role for that team that it is now what it is today. He has built it up of a very small operation.

“I think this is the ultimate end of the power struggle that has been clear in that team in recent years and in the end it is a power struggle that Christian Horner has lost.”

“There was clearly a public show of an internal war between certain parts of Red Bull and Christian,” added Karun Chandhok.

“An enormous amount of focus in that team is on Max Verstappen. Without Max Verstappen, that team would have a hard time. Yuki Tsunoda finished last in the last few races. It has an enormous amount of power within that team on Max Verstappen and his camp and his team.”

What does this mean for Max Verstappen?

Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty images

But will Horner’s looting be enough to keep Verstappen at Red Bull?

One Max Whisperer is not that certain.

Erik van Haren, who covers F1 for Dutch outlet De Telegraaf And is seen as a “go-t” for all things that Verstappen is not convinced.

And it all starts with the car.

“You now get a lot of reports and people who think that Oké Horner is out, so that means that Verstappen will stay. I don’t think it’s so clear. I think what is the most important thing for Verstappens is that the team is taking steps with the car. They have many problems with this car,” Van Haren said on Wednesday.

“They want more performance and then they can make the decision: is this our team for the future, yes or no. I think this decision [with Horner] was made to get more peace in the team, but perhaps also to say to Verstappen, maybe this is a good time for you to stay.

“Maybe the Red Bull gives a better chance to keep him in the team, but that is no guarantee at the moment,” Van Haren added.

“I think he will make a decision this month. They still have two weeks to go for the summer holidays, so he has a lot of time to think and also to see how the car performs.”

In the end it might all come back to the car.

Every racing car driver wants the fastest car, and Verstappen is no exception to that rule. That has made the rumors “Max to Mercedes” easier in recent weeks, given the struggles of Red Bull with the RB21 and the paddock whisper that Mercedes is possible on the front foot when the new regulations arrive in 2026.

That is why the Horner final is FIA press conference may have contained this statement:

“2026 will be a transformational year. It is the biggest change in formula 1 probably in the last 50 years in which both chassis and power unit are introduced at the same time. No one, with hand in heart, can know what the pecking order will be. It can be one of these gentlemen. [on] Both sides of me. It can be Ferrari. It can be Mercedes. It can be everyone.

“There is a lot of subjectivity for 2026, and next year it is really this time you have a clear indication of what that pecking order is. So there are no guarantees that jumping in a Mercedes car would automatically be a better proposition. ” (emphasis added)

Horner’s last field for Verstappen?

Now he can only look from the sidelines to see if that was enough.