Christian Horner may not have been a shareholder at Red Bull, like Toto Wolff at Mercedes or former colleague Adrian Newey at Aston Martin. But he was extremely powerful.<\/p>\n
As the CEO and team principal, Horner was responsible for every division of the Red Bull <\/a>F1 operation. He may have thought he was consolidating power by broadening his scope, but it was perhaps to his own detriment.<\/p>\n Horner refused to restructure Red Bull<\/a> before he was sacked. The team may have felt he was spreading himself too thin.<\/p>\n Replacement Laurent Mekies will accept reduced authority<\/a>, and perhaps that model will prove more effective. Despite his excellent record, Horner too may need to compromise if he\u2019s to take up another role within F1.<\/p>\n Christian Horner enjoyed being the \u2018baddie\u2019 on Drive to Survive<\/p>\n According to F1 journalist Adam Hay-Nicholls<\/a>, Red Bull \u2018sources\u2019 concur that Horner<\/a> was \u2018getting too big for his boots\u2019 in the lead-up to his exit. His \u2018overreaching\u2019 fuelled these accusations.<\/p>\n But there was also a feeling that he was \u2018taking too much credit\u2019 for the team\u2019s successes. Indeed, Newey felt Horner unfairly downplayed his influence<\/a>, which was one of the reasons he resigned last year.<\/p>\n Horner was \u2018too pleased with himself\u2019 for being the \u2018pantomime baddie\u2019 on Netflix\u2019s Drive to Survive<\/a> documentary. This may not have been the image that the team wanted to project.<\/p>\n On the most recent season, Horner openly courted Oscar Piastri from rivals McLaren<\/a>. He was also filmed saying Charles Leclerc \u2018makes a lot of mistakes\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n Red Bull staff laid the blame on Christian Horner after losing out on their bonuses<\/p>\n Red Bull employees were divided on Horner. He lost the support of senior management, but many staff had formed a bond with him during his 20-year stint.<\/p>\n