McLaren Racing chief executive officer Zak Brown says he was “not surprised” Christian Horner was sacked as team boss of Red Bull.<\/p>\n
Horner was dismissed as team principal<\/a> and CEO of Red Bull on 9 July, three days after their driver Max Verstappen finished fifth in the British Grand Prix.<\/p>\n Brown told Canadian television channel TSN: “I’m maybe [surprised by] the timing, but not the result.<\/p>\n “There’s been a lot of drama there the last couple of years and it doesn’t seem like that drama has been calming down – maybe been getting worse. So I’m not surprised.”<\/p>\n Red Bull has given no reason for the removal of Horner, who has been replaced by Frenchman Laurent Mekies, formerly the principal of second team Racing Bulls.<\/p>\n Horner had led the team since their debut in 2005. His departure came 17 months after it emerged that a female employee had accused him of sexual harassment and coercive, controlling behaviour. Two separate Red Bull internal investigations dismissed the allegations, which Horner has always denied.<\/p>\n Since then, Red Bull have gone through a tempestuous period, including a decline in their competitiveness. <\/p>\n Their chief technical officer Adrian Newey resigned in April last year<\/a>, at least partly as a result of the allegations against Horner. Newey – regarded as the greatest F1 designer in history – now works for Aston Martin.<\/p>\n In July last year, long-time sporting director Jonathan Wheatley also resigned<\/a>. He is now team principal of Sauber, which next year is morphing into Audi’s factory team.<\/p>\n