Everything that went wrong for sacked Red Bull boss Christian Horner

In a shock move, Red Bull sacked team principal Christian Horner today after 20 years at the helm. But while his tenure shaped the outfit into one of the most successful in Formula 1 history, it also came with its fair share of controversy. 

Horner joined the team when it was created from the ashes of the former Jaguar squad back ahead of the 2005 season. Since then, he has led the side through two periods of dominance, with Sebastian Vettel winning four consecutive titles from 2010 and Max Verstappen repeating the feat from 2021. 

With the Brit in charge, Red Bull has picked up 124 race wins – more than historic team Williams – 287 podiums and more than 8,000 world championship points.

However, Red Bull’s form has fallen in recent months, and Horner himself has been embroiled in controversy that many believe has distracted the team and led to its lacklustre results. Now, with the Red Bull boss set to be replaced by Laurent Mekies at the helm, we’ve broken down the major events that led to Horner’s downfall. 

February 2024 – Christian Horner’s behaviour investigated 

Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Erik Junius

The wheels started falling off Horner’s wagon back in February 2024, when the Red Bull boss was accused of inappropriate behaviour by a female employee at the team. 

Unspecified claims were brought to the team by an unidentified female employee at the Formula 1 team. Red Bull subsequently opened an official probe into the matter, working with an independent barrister to get to the bottom of the allegations. 

In a statement shared at the time, the team said: “The company takes these matters extremely seriously and the investigation will be completed as soon as practically possible. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

When the allegations surfaced, Horner said: “I completely deny these claims.”

The probe overshadowed the team’s launch of its 2024 F1 challenger, but ultimately cleared Horner of any wrongdoing – which should have drawn a line under the matter. 

March 2024 – Messages leak online 

Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing, is surrounded by media

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

It didn’t, however, and on the eve of the 2024 Formula 1 season the story about Horner’s alleged inappropriate behaviour towards a female Red Bull employee was back in the spotlight.

Almost exactly 24 hours after Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing by Red Bull’s investigation, a pair of anonymous email addresses distributed a dossier of documents that they claimed were related to the case.

The emails, which contained a link to a Google Drive folder containing the documents, stated: “Following Red Bull’s recent investigation and statements you will be interested to see the materials attached.”

Those materials were shared among around 100 Formula 1 insiders, including members of the media and team personnel up and down the grid. 

Red Bull did not confirm whether the documents were real or falsified, but the team shared a statement from Horner at the time saying that he “won’t comment on anonymous speculation”.

April 2024 – Adrian Newey announces Red Bull exit 

Adrian Newey, Chief Technology Officer, Red Bull Racing, arrives at the track

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

While never officially linked to the drama surrounding Red Bull boss Christian Horner, star designer Adrian Newey announced his departure from the team just a few short weeks after news of allegations against Horner broke.

Newey was a longstanding member of the Red Bull team, having joined the squad in 2006 from McLaren – where he penned championship-winning cars for Mika Hakkinen in 1998 and 1999.

His success continued at Red Bull, and Newey was responsible for leading the teams that designed cars picking up eight drivers’ championships and six constructors’ championships over the course of just 14 years. 

Newey’s departure shook the team, and he was followed out the door by sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, who is now team principal at Sauber/Audi, where he has begun turning around the team’s fortunes. 

Newey, meanwhile, is now at Aston Martin, where he is preparing the British side for the sweeping new regulations that will hit Formula 1 in 2026. 

May 2024 – McLaren closes the gap 

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

While Red Bull dealt with off-track drama, its on-track performance started to falter. 

Following a dominant period that saw it win consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ crowns in F1, the team started the 2024 season on strong footing and won four out of the first five grands prix of the season. But, in Miami, the tides tuned as McLaren brought a dramatic upgrade to its MCL38, which unlocked hidden performance for the side. 

Lando Norris won the first race with the upgrade, in Miami, and the team quickly began closing the gap to Red Bull as Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri piled on the pressure. After F1’s summer break, McLaren came out fighting and took the lead of the constructors’ championship after a one-two finish in Azerbaijan. 

June 2024 – Sergio Perez unravels 

Marshals remove the damaged car of Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

While Verstappen continued picking up race wins and consistently led the drivers’ standings over the course of the 2024 season, the Red Bull team was hit by a drought of points from its second car, which was piloted by Sergio Perez. 

The Mexican started the season well, finishing on the podium in four of the first five races of the year. But as McLaren found its footing, Perez appeared to lose his form with back-to-back DNFs in Monaco and Canada followed by a slew of finishes in the low points-paying positions. 

A new contract for Perez was announced in June 2024 in an attempt to give the Mexican some stability and potentially improve his performances. But this didn’t work, and he picked up just 21 championship points after the summer break. In contrast, Verstappen amassed 160 points over those 10 races.

The writing was on the wall for Perez, and at the conclusion of the 2024 season, Red Bull announced that it was ending his contract early and promoting junior driver Liam Lawson to the second Red Bull seat. 

December 2024 – Red Bull loses the constructors’ crown 

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

The floundering form of Perez paved the way for other teams to topple Red Bull and, after McLaren jumped to the lead of the standings in Azerbaijan, the Milton Keynes-based team’s fall continued.

With no rear gunner to support Verstappen while he fought for race wins, Red Bull was passed by Ferrari in the team standings. This meant that after two seasons in which the squad had walked away with the crown, finishing hundreds of points ahead of its nearest rivals, Red Bull’s reign was over. 

In the end, the team took third in 2024, more than 60 points adrift of second-placed Ferrari. Verstappen held on to his lead in the drivers’ standings and claimed a fourth consecutive world title at the end of the season, but the final results proved something was going wrong at Red Bull. 

March 2025 – Liam Lawson demoted 

Liam Lawson, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

After the poor performances of Perez were blamed for Red Bull’s fall from the top, Lawson stepped into the second Red Bull seat full of confidence and promise that he was the driver who could finally match Verstappen’s pace. 

He joined the squad following decent performances in the Racing Bulls car in the closing stages of the 2024 season. But his stint as Verstappen’s fifth team-mate since he was promoted to Red Bull midway through the 2016 season got off to a lacklustre start when he failed to light up the timings in pre-season testing in Bahrain. 

Things got worse at the first race of the year in Australia, where Lawson failed to finish the grand prix, and China, where he finished 12th and didn’t pick up any points for the senior side. 

As such, Red Bull made the call to demote Lawson after just two races. He was sent back to Racing Bulls and Yuki Tsunoda was given the call up to Red Bull for the Japanese Grand Prix. 

Verstappen’s sixth team-mate picked up his first point for the team on his second outing in Bahrain, but that hasn’t paved the way for a slew of double-points finishes for Red Bull in the ensuing races. In fact, Tsunoda’s form appears to have gotten worse since moving to Red Bull, and he is now in the midst of a five-race run of pointless finishes in F1 and has, in fact, only added seven points to Red Bull’s tally since joining the side.

June 2025 – Red Bull falls to fourth 

Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Tsunoda’s drought of championship points has hit Red Bull’s standing and, after the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix, it fell to fourth in the constructors’ championship behind Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren. 

The blame for the drop in form can hardly be placed entirely on Tsunoda’s shoulders, as both the Japanese driver, Verstappen and even predecessors Lawson and Perez all highlighted issues with Red Bull’s race cars. 

The RB21 is reportedly a very tricky car to get a hold of, with it having a very small window in which drivers can extract the optimum performance from it. Verstappen evidently can get his car in this window on occasions, as he has picked up two race wins already in 2025, but his fifth-place finish at Silverstone confirmed that even he is not a miracle worker. 

Verstappen and Tsunoda are reportedly working hard with the team to overcome the issues faced by the RB21, which stem from its small operating window and a general lack in pace.

Upgrades are scheduled to arrive at Spa-Francorchamps, and the team has already swapped out components at other European races. But Red Bull is still playing catchup and appears to have a mountain to climb if it wants to get back to F1’s sharp end this season. 

June 2025 – Max Verstappen exit rumours swirl 

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto / Getty Images

Dwindling performance and a distinct lack of race wins over the course of the 2025 season have all raised questions about Verstappen’s future with the Red Bull team. The Dutchman is contracted with the side until the end of 2028, and while ex-team boss Horner has repeatedly attempted to shut down the “noise” over his star driver’s future, rumours of a Verstappen exit continue to swirl. 

Those claims reached fever pitch after the Austrian Grand Prix, where a DNF for Verstappen almost slammed the door on a fifth successive F1 title. Questions were raised about performance-based exit clauses in Verstappen’s contract, with Mercedes reportedly on the prowl to try and poach the four-time world champion.

Verstappen has done little to silence these rumours and remained tight-lipped when asked about his future ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Could Verstappen’s potential impending departure from Red Bull have been the final nail in Horner’s coffin? Or was the former team boss let go to try and keep the Dutchman in position until the conclusion of his contract?