Ex-FIA Steward Exposes ‘Potential’ Reason Behind Christian Horner’s Red Bull Axe

Last week, Red Bull sacked Christian Horner as team principal. The 51-year-old was not given a reason for his exit, and was informed just a day before the news hit the media. Since then, there has been speculation over the potential reason behind Horner’s exit. Now, former FIA steward, Johnny Herbert has outlined one such possibility.

In early 2024, Christian Horner was accused of inappropriate behavior by a female Red Bull employee. The team’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH conducted an independent investigation over the claims. Ultimately, Horner was cleared of all wrongdoings, allowing the Briton to continue his role at Milton Keynes. However, the allegations were enough to tarnish his image within the team. Notably, Max Verstappen‘s father, Jos Verstappen was furious on the team boss, claiming that Red Bull was going to tear apart.

Johnny Herbert recalled that the accusations also made Ford unhappy. The American carmaker joins forces with Red Bull next year as part of Red Bull Ford Powertrains. The former F1 driver reckoned that Christian Horner was lucky to have managed to continue even after the case. Unfortunately, his damage image still remained, and that was something which could never go away.

Well, I think it’s not a surprise, I don’t think anybody should be surprised. It was something that when it first kicked off, I remember the Ford Motor Company weren’t exactly very happy with the rumours that were going about at that present time. He’s hung on for a good period of time, but I think it was something that was never going to go away.

Johnny Herbert told RacingNews365

Herbert asserted that the case continued to hang around Horner’s neck. He highlighted that Jos Verstappen was quite angry over Horner due to the entire ordeal. Thus, he reckoned that perhaps this could be the reason behind Horner’s sacking.

And when it doesn’t go away, it’s never a good thing to have that sort of thing hanging around your neck. But there’s also, is it anything to do with Max? Because, obviously, Jos was very vocal, and not wanting Christian about. Potentially, I suppose it could be that.

Johnny Herbert added

Johnny Herbert predicts Max Verstappen’s future amid Christian Horner axe

Max Verstappen has long been rumored to be considering leaving Red Bull. Initially, Aston Martin seemed like the frontrunner in poaching the Dutch driver. However, Mercedes has quickly become the new favorite in this race. There were even reports of Verstappen meeting Mercedes boss Toto Wolff in Sardinia the past weekend.