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Ex-F1 Team Boss Confused over Christian Horner’s Sudden Red Bull Exit
Jay Janner/American-Statesman/USA TODAY Network / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Christian Horner is no longer the Red Bull F1 team principal. The Briton was sacked from his role by the energy drinks giant on Wednesday. This announcement came as a major shock for many in the paddock. Now, former Haas F1 boss Guenther Steiner has admitted that he still can’t understand the reason behind Horner’s exit.

Steiner had worked with Christian Horner during the early days of Red Bull, before he moved to other projects. The Italian-American pointed out that tensions within Milton Keynes in the past few months were no secret. Guenther Steiner recalled that the situation for Horner deteriorated in early 2024 when the 51-year-old was accused of inappropriate behavior by a female Red Bull employee. Albeit, the then-Red Bull team boss was cleared of all wrongdoings after an independent investigation.

Yeah, I was pretty surprised as well when it happened. There was something going on at Red Bull, I think we all were aware of it. We cannot say, ‘Oh, we didn’t know that something was going on’, because it’s more than a year now that, since we had whatever it was called, that scandal in the beginning of last year.

Guenther Steiner said on The Red Flags Podcast

Moreover, the former Haas boss asserted Milton Keynes was struggling to stay intact with a power struggle going on.. He reckoned that usually Red Bull was much better at handling a crisis, but the team failed to manage Christian Horner’s exit publicly. The 60-year-old reckoned that the decision to sack Horner came ‘out of the blue.’ Although, for Red Bull, the writing had been on the wall for quite some time.

It wasn’t happy days anymore at Red Bull, I would say. But I didn’t expect it. If something like this happens, normally, Red Bull is pretty good at managing it a little bit with a gliding path or something. But this came completely out of the blue anyway, to me, obviously, maybe not to Red Bull. But nothing was out there, that this would happen. Things change and things move on.

Guenther Steiner explained

Guenther Steiner questions timing of Christian Horner’s exit

The Red Bull team boss was informed that he would be leaving his duties with immediate effect. This call was made by the team’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH just two days after the British GP. With two races left before the summer break, the timing of this decision has surprised Guenther Steiner.

Steiner highlighted that he was perplexed over the timing of Horner’s sacking. The Italian-American pointed out that usually such major changes are made in the summer break, if not the winter break. The 60-year-old reckoned that showing Christian Horner the door during the summer break in August would’ve been easier for Milton Keynes, as the factory would’ve shut shop for two weeks.

I can’t unpick it because as I said it’s very off, you’ve got only a few races before the summer break. Normally you do it in the summer break, you’ve got the people shut down. This is done a few days after a race. So it is off, as you say, the timing of it.

Guenther Steiner added

The F1 summer break will take place following the Hungarian GP in early August, before the season returns at Zandvoort. Thus, Christian Horner’s successor, Laurent Mekies faces the task of taking the reigns of Milton Keynes with two races before the break. These coming weeks could be critical for Red Bull as the team enters a new era, where it will not be headed by Horner for the first time in its history.

This article first appeared on FirstSportz and was syndicated with permission.

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