The Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team all seems to have come unraveled in the last couple of years under the control of team principal Christian Horner. After twenty years at the helm, with six World Constructors’ Championships and eight World Drivers’ Championships to show for it, Horner was relieved of his position Wednesday. The team have not provided reason for the decision, which comes about a year after Horner’s internal sexual misconduct allegations, though it’s most likely related to the dramatic falloff in performance the team have seen over the last two seasons and his falling out with Red Bull lead driver Max Verstappen’s father Jos Verstappen. Horner has been replaced by Red Bull junior squad Racing Bulls team principal Laurent Mekies.
Things just haven’t been the same since the death of the taurine-infused energy drink company co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz in 2022, a major supporter of Horner’s. A political rift began to develop within the squad with Horner on one side and team advisor Helmut Marko—with the support of the Verstappens—on the other. Horner’s sex pest scandal ripped through the paddock in 2024, deepening that rift and further pushing several key components of the team to either call for Horner’s removal, or depart themselves. Ford, RBR’s engine partner for 2026, has been vocal about displeasure with Horner’s actions, legendary technical director Adrian Newey left the team for Aston Martin, and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley left in 2024 to run Sauber. The only thing saving Horner from an earlier exit was the car’s performance, but with the team’s poor form in 2025 he’s out.
Completely out of the blue
With a near-perfect 2023 season that saw Red Bull Racing score 21 Grands Prix victories from 22 rounds, the team was riding a massive forward wave, but it’s all come crashing down since. While 2024 saw Max Verstappen score his fourth WDC trophy, the Red Bull team began collapsing when number 2 driver Sergio Perez struggled to deliver results of any kind and the team lost the constructor’s trophy to a resurgent McLaren. 2025 has only seen a worse Red Bull car and an improved McLaren, with Max scoring just two victories thus far and Red Bull mired in fourth place in the constructors’ championship behind Ferrari and Mercedes. The recalcitrance of Verstappen’s RB21 is visibly evident, and rumors abound that he’s been unhappy with the team for some time now and could be departing to join Mercedes for 2026.
It’s possible that Max told the team he’d stick around if they sacked Horner, or maybe he’s already committed to leaving the team and it’s Horner’s fault. It’s possible we’ll never know the machinations of the decision, but in either case it seems Red Bull can only really go up from here. The team needs to completely restructure and rebuild from the fallout of the last two seasons, and a renewed focus on the 2026 season regulation change could pay dividends for them at this point. This definitely marks the end of an era for the racing squad, but perhaps the beginning of a better one without such a brash hothead at the wheel.
