Tearful staff rocked by Red Bull chief Christian Horner\u2019s axing have been ordered to \u201csmile more\u201d by their new Austrian and German bosses.<\/p>\n
Loyal workers were stunned when the British Formula One team\u2019s supremo Horner, 51, was ousted following a stellar 20-year reign.<\/p>\n
He helped Red Bull win eight drivers\u2019 championships and six constructors\u2019 crowns.<\/p>\n
And sources told SunSport new Austrian boss Helmut Marko upset staff who gathered to meet him at the team\u2019s HQ in Milton Keynes \u2014 with some now threatening to quit.<\/p>\n
A female Red Bull worker revealed: \u201cIt was only a day after Christian was sacked and a lot of the team were still upset when Mr Marko addressed us.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he just made a joke of it and told us to cheer up \u2014 he said, \u2018You need to smile more\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t endear him to anyone as what is there to smile about?\u201d<\/p>\n
Horner\u2019s roles as chief executive officer and team principal have been usurped by Austrian team adviser Marko, 82, and German ex-football official Oliver Mintzlaff, 49.<\/p>\n
While French engineer and motorsport exec Laurent Mekies, 48, was quickly unveiled as Horner\u2019s replacement last week.<\/p>\n
But insiders have insisted Mintzlaff and Marko are now the men in the driving seat \u2014 and revealed their first address to staff at Milton Keynes was a \u201ccar crash\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mintzlaff sparked more anger when he joked about the brutal axing of senior staff including Horner, chief marketing officer Oliver Hughes and director of communications Paul Smith.<\/p>\n
Horner was summoned to London on July 9 believing he was attending a regular team meeting.<\/p>\n
But he was then relieved of his duties on the spot and put on gardening leave.<\/p>\n
Hughes and Smith were called into an office and also told they were no longer part of Red Bull\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
They were escorted out of the building after having their company devices taken from them \u2014 leaving hundreds of staff with no bosses to answer to.<\/p>\n
And another staff member told SunSport: \u201cMintzlaff\u200a\u200a\u200a\u200a\u200aalso said, \u2018If you have any problems, just text your line manager\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen he added, \u2018Oh, and if you don\u2019t have a line manager any more, just text me!\u2019 and started laughing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Red Bull supremo Horner knew nothing of the plans to get rid of him, 18 months after he was accused of a sexting scandal which broke the heart of his Spice Girl wife Geri, 52.<\/p>\n
And the \u00a312million-a-year chief was replaced within 24 hours by Marko and Mintzlaff, who arrived to address staff members, 90 per cent of whom are British.<\/p>\n
Emotional Red Bull insiders spoke in depth for the first time yesterday over their shock at the loss of their boss. <\/p>\n
They also laid bare the chaos that is now gripping this once all-conquering F1 team.<\/p>\n
And long-standing family friends who have spoken to Horner admitted he was left stunned by his ruthless removal.<\/p>\n
One told SunSport: \u201cChristian told me how hurt and betrayed he felt after all that he and Geri and their family have been through over the past 18 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was cleared twice over the texting scandal but is now on gardening leave and has still been given no explanation why he\u2019s lost the job he loved.<\/p>\n
\u201cRed Bull\u2019s Austrian bosses have always resented the fact that so much of their F1 success was down to a team that Christian built in Britain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is what lies behind this \u2014 as well as the hangover from the terrible headlines last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristian was called to a London meeting and had no idea what it was about.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was just told, \u2018You have to be there\u2019 and was dumbfounded when he was ushered into a room and effectively sacked on the spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt left him totally blindsided \u2014 he thought he\u2019d been called in to speak about another issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the staff are nearly all Brits and are fiercely loyal to him and are now talking about walking out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a targeted attack for control of the race team because Red Bull\u2019s Austrian HQ didn\u2019t like a British man running their race team.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut now the team is in chaos \u2014 Red Bull at Milton Keynes has hit the skids.\u201dRed Bull\u2019s Austrian-based HQ was approached for comment yesterday.<\/p>\n