He formally left the team in September with what some outlets have reported was a US$100 million (A$140 million) payout<\/a>, and the 52-year-old will be free to join a rival team later this season.<\/p>\n Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship\u2122 LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n His exit followed tensions between him and Jos Verstappen, the father of four-time champion Max Verstappen, which surfaced around 18 months earlier after Horner was accused of inappropriate workplace behaviour by a female employee.<\/p>\n Though Horner was cleared by an externally conducted Red Bull investigation, Jos Verstappen remained his chief antagonist, publicly calling for him to be removed from the team.<\/p>\n Max Verstappen had also allowed questions about his future with Red Bull Racing to linger in the early part of 2025, when the team was being comfortably beaten by McLaren.<\/p>\n But speaking in the newest series of Drive to Survive premiering on Friday, Horner denied the Verstappen camp was behind his axing, instead pinning the blame on agitators at Austria\u2019s Red Bull headquarters.<\/p>\n \u201c[Verstappen\u2019s] father has never been my biggest fan. He\u2019s been outspoken about me. But I don\u2019t believe the Verstappens were responsible in any way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this was a decision that was made by Oliver Mintzlaff, with Helmut advising from the sideline.\u201d<\/p>\n PIT TALK PODCAST: Barely a week out from the season-opening grand prix, what\u2019s the F1 state of play, and where do McLaren and Oscar Piastri sit in the order?<\/p>\n Horner has said little about his dismissal, but Red Bull appeared to be uncomfortable with how much personal power the Englishman had been able to accumulate over the years thanks to Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz having given him effectively a blank slate to build the team.<\/p>\n Mateschitz\u2019s death in 2022 kicked off waves of infighting over control of the team. Marko, who had been appointed as Mateschitz\u2019s motorsport intermediary, emerged as Horner\u2019s key internal rival.<\/p>\n Horner\u2019s dismissal was initially regarded as a win for Marko, but the Austrian unexpectedly left the team at the end of last season<\/a>, making it a pyrrhic victory at best. He later slammed Horner\u2019s behaviour in an exit interview with Dutch paper <\/a>De Limburger<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think ultimately things changed within the business, within the group,\u201d Horner said, hinting at that theory. \u201cThe founder died, and after Dietrich\u2019s death, I think probably I was deemed to have maybe too much control.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel a real sense of loss and hurt. It was all rather sudden. I didn\u2019t really get the chance to say a proper goodbye.<\/p>\n \u201cI never imagined to be in this position. Of course your immediate reaction when you\u2019re delivered a shit sandwich like that is to say, \u2018F*** them\u2019. I had something taken away from me which wasn\u2019t my choice which was very precious to me.\u201d<\/p>\n He also admitted, though, that the team\u2019s on-track results, which had shielded him from internal scrutiny when they were strong, left him vulnerable when they dropped off last year.<\/p>\n \u201cI only ever gave my best \u2014 I did my best for my team, for the people that I represented,\u201d he said. \u201cBut performance this year [2025] hasn\u2019t been as strong as previously.\u201d<\/p>\n Can Toprak Razgatlioglu Conquer MotoGP? | 09:39<\/p>\n Max Verstappen stayed neutral during most of Red Bull Racing\u2019s internal ructions except to defend Marko in early 2024, when the Austrian powerbroker appeared at risk of being sacked.<\/p>\n Despite being part of the Marko camp, Verstappen told Viaplay last year that he remained close with Horner, with whom he was still in regular friendly contact.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve built up a bond with Christian and achieved so much,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ll never forget that. Christian really went through fire for me.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery week, every race [we talk]. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday and usually via text message. But also on holiday, for example. Every week.\u201d<\/p>\n But Verstappen also suggested that Red Bull Racing was in better shape without Horner at the helm.<\/p>\n \u201cThe team is doing well,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a lot of confidence. You see people smiling, it\u2019s a nice environment, everyone gets along well and we missed that at one point. The Red Bull style was a bit lost or gone.<\/p>\n \u201c[Team spirit] has definitely returned.\u201d<\/p>\n Horner also revealed to Drive to Survive an unexpectedly cordial text message exchange with long-time rival Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know what to say, because on one side you\u2019ve been a real a***hole,\u201d the message read. \u201cBut on the other hand, the sport will miss one of its main protagonists. Who should I fight? And \u2018love to hate\u2019 as you always said? Wolff and Horner have a combined 14 of the last 15 world championships. Not a bad joint statistic.\u201d<\/p>\n Horner replied: \u201cI\u2019ve loved locking horns with you all these years. So thank you for the rivalry, the competition and the needle. No one else even came close, as the statistics point out. I wish you all the very best for the future. PS, you need a haircut.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christian Horner believes the Verstappen family played no role in his sacking from the top job at Red…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[2095,64,63,107094,1199,16210,253579,21779,73701,817,813,816,22496,4405,188826,253582,20674,18268,253580,2041,2067,18243,99980,253583,2119,253586,111758,253585,253581,85,39231,253584,2094,225674,79610,2614,25247],"class_list":["post-504645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-america","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boardroom-coup","tag-christian-horner","tag-constructors-titles","tag-cordial-text-message","tag-drivers-championship","tag-exit-interview","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-four-time-champion","tag-helmut-marko","tag-inappropriate-workplace-behaviour","tag-joint-statistic","tag-jos-verstappen","tag-motorsport-adviser","tag-motorsport-intermediary","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oliver-mintzlaff","tag-pecking-order","tag-people-smiling","tag-pit-talk","tag-real-arsehole","tag-real-sense","tag-season-opening-grand-prix","tag-shit-sandwich","tag-sports","tag-surprise-sacking","tag-suspects-list","tag-team-boss","tag-team-spirit","tag-text-message","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-world-championships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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