Red Bull Racing and Christian Horner have officially parted ways, but that might not necessarily be the end of their interactions.
Christian Horner will be free to begin working in the Formula 1 paddock from the middle of next year.
Red Bull have enjoyed a recent purple patch under new team principal Laurent Mekies, with Max Verstappen winning back-to-back races at Monza and in Baku.
Mekies and Verstappen appear to be working well together, and Yuki Tsunoda achieved his best result since his promotion at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
However, whether everything is as rosy as it seems behind the scenes is another matter.
Horner was primarily responsible for so much of Red Bull’s success over the last 20 years.
CHRISTIAN HORNER’S RECORD AS RED BULL F1 TEAM PRINCIPALGrands Prix entered406Wins124Podiums287Pole positions107Points8,009Drivers’ championships8 (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)Constructors’ championships6 (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2022, 2023)
His 14 championship victories make him one of F1’s most storied team principals, with Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel becoming four-time world champions during his tenure.
Journalist Joe Saward believes this could pose a problem for Red Bull if and when Horner finds a new job in the paddock.
Although some Red Bull staff were frustrated with Horner and some of his decision-making, many owe much of their success in Formula 1 to their former boss.
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Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty ImagesRed Bull ‘worried’ that staff could leave due to Christian Horner ‘clause’ inserted into their contracts
Saward was speaking about Horner’s departure on the Missed Apex Podcast.
Asked about what’s next for Red Bull and Horner, he explained: “The key test for Laurent Mekies is now that they have a deal with Christian Horner, and it’s settled, and he’s leaving the team or has officially left the team.
“They have clauses in a number of contracts called the Christian Horner clause. It’s not really, but that’s a good way of describing it.
“And the Christian Horner clause means if Christian Horner leaves, I can leave too. So we can start looking now and seeing how many engineers are going to start leaving Red Bull because Christian’s not there.
“Now, there is an advantage for Red Bull in that Christian hasn’t got anywhere to go at the moment.
“But if he had somewhere to go, would the people leave and go and work with him somewhere else? The answer to that is, in a lot of cases, yes. So they are worried about it.”
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How Red Bull staff are feeling behind the scenes since Christian Horner’s exit
Reflecting on how calm Red Bull seems since Horner’s departure, Saward continued: “It’s not awfully well and everyone’s happy. No, I think that’s pushing the envelope a bit.
“There are quite a few people unhappy there because Mekies is doing a good job, and maybe he’s calming some fears. But the departure of Christian Horner was a fairly dramatic moment for the team.
“Which is basically, you’ve got to bear in mind that an awful lot of these people, their careers were made by Christian Horner. It’s far more Team Horner than it is Team Red Bull, and that was the problem.
Position Constructors’ Standings PointsPts 1 623 2 290 3 286 4 272 5 101 6 72 7 62 8 55 9 44 10 20
“That’s why they wanted to get rid of him, because the Red Bull people thought, well, hang on a minute, this is our team. And Christian’s going, hang on a minute, this is my team, and that was what the fight was all about.”
Horner has been linked with Haas among other teams, and surely it won’t be long until a team in the paddock makes a formal approach for the 51-year-old.
How many staff depart Red Bull to join Horner when he decides on his next venture will be fascinating to see.
It’s up to Mekies to turn Red Bull into a team where any staff who are still loyal to Horner don’t want to make that move.