SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium — Red Bull arrived at the Belgian Grand Prix without Christian Horner in the paddock for the first time since its debut season in 2005, in the midst of a storm of uncertainty.
Horner’s sacking days after the British Grand Prix was shocking in its timing, although his tenure at the team had seemed like a ticking time bomb for around 18 months of increasing bickering and political tension behind the scenes. The move has dominated the news cycle since. Max Verstappen spoke to the media in a packed session at Red Bull’s hospitality unit on Thursday — new team boss Laurent Mekies will address the media on Friday.
Notably, there has been silence from the levels above Verstappen and Mekies. A key figure in Horner’s shock sacking was Austrian executive and Oliver Mintzlaff, whose quote accompanied the press release confirming the news. Mintzlaff is expected to arrive at the Spa-Francorchamps paddock on Friday, but he so far has been reluctant to address the media in any capacity to explain the decision.
Some key questions about the team’s new era remain unanswered.
Why exactly was Horner fired?
While Horner’s departure has remained front and centre in the media, an official reason has not yet been presented from the wider Red Bull company which made the decision.
It’s easy to speculate on reasons: recent news reports of Verstappen leaving, the increasing political tension between Horner and Red Bull Racing advisor Helmut Marko, the lingering animosity between Horner and Max’s father Jos, Red Bull’s stuttering results on the race track, or the loss of key figures in recent years such as the legendary Adrian Newey (to Aston Martin), car designer Rob Marshall (to McLaren) and former sporting director Jonathan Wheatley (to the Sauber/Audi project). It might even be easier to suggest that a combination of all of those factors played a part.
Without official comment, speculation will continue. The pressure already seems to be shifting towards the wider Red Bull company — officially known as Red Bull GmbH — to provide solid reasoning why Horner was let go, and why it came so abruptly. Several sources ESPN have spoken to have voiced a similar feeling: why now? Other sources within the team itself have told ESPN that Horner’s dismissal among many rank-and-file members was received badly, especially without any explanation alongside it.
While often painted like a pantomime villain externally (a role Horner relished cultivating through the media), it’s clear he remained popular with the majority of the race team — including the large swathes whose jobs are factory-based — right until the end. That’s not surprising for a man who led the team from its inception through into its 21st season and oversaw every single one of its race victories and championships to this point. Not providing an explanation for a team boss with six months under their belt might be an easier sell — but when his tenure spanned over two decades, many felt one had to be forthcoming.
Verstappen’s own comments on Thursday were notable. The four-time world champion said he had voiced his opinions to the “shareholders” who told him — but that those opinions would remain private. Sources have confirmed to ESPN that majority Red Bull GmbH shareholder Chalerm Yoovidhya flew to Monaco to visit Verstappen to personally tell him the decision the evening before it became public. While the animosity between Horner and his father has been well documented, Verstappen on Thursday stated that the Englishman was like a “second family” to him, and it is understood he has sent numerous messages to his former boss since.
Yoovidhya had been a long-time supporter of Horner but his own position clearly changed over the past few months — perhaps because of the combination of factors already mentioned and the increasing pressure from the Austrian side of the business, which owns 49%, to remove him from his position. The loudest voices beyond Mintzlaff appear to have been Jos Verstappen and Marko, who had both grown irritated in recent seasons at how much power Horner wielded behind the scenes.
Sources have told ESPN there is a limited desire from the wider Red Bull company — officially known as Red Bull GmbH — to give an official reason. Sources within the team have told ESPN not to expect any sweeping statements from company executives or clarifications on the sequence of events which led to Horner’s dismissal. It is a curious approach to take around the dismissal of a man who is perhaps as synonymous with Red Bull Racing as anyone else.
Is Mekies a long-term appointment?
New Red Bull team principal and CEO Laurent Mekies inherited both roles Horner was removed from, suggesting he has initially taken on a job with sweeping power to do what he likes. The reality is probably slightly different.
In terms of his pedigree as a team boss, Mekies is clearly very well thought of, both internally and externally. The Frenchman received a host of glowing reviews during Thursday’s other media sessions, including from former Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz. Mekies, who was Mattia Binotto’s deputy team boss at Ferrari before taking over Red Bull’s junior team at the start of last year, has enjoyed a rapid elevation up the ranks over the past decade.
The stark contrast between Mekies and Horner’s background is notable. While Horner was a failed racing driver who transitioned into team management, Mekies has an engineering background and cut his teeth at the Minardi team Red Bull purchased midway through the 2000s to convert into its minor team, originally rebranded to Toro Rosso. As a curious side-note, his appointment changes the feeling around the ongoing talk about Red Bull’s struggles to find an effective partner to Verstappen – Mekies has worked alongside Yuki Tsunoda, Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson over the past 18 months and all three think highly of him. His ability to connect with drivers on a technical level might be what the struggling Tsunoda needs to save his career at the top team. “He understood the driver very well,” Sainz said on Thursday. “He had a special feeling and a special communication with drivers, which I think makes things, for the driver at least, very comfortable and very open.”
Away from driver decisions, Mekies’ immediate job will be to rectify Red Bull’s recent slide on track. External hype about Verstappen leaving for Mercedes in 2026 appears to have been overblown and the ongoing project around the team’s new engine project for the new rules next year will likely play a larger role in whether the Dutchman stays beyond that season more than anything Mekies can do behind the scenes. As Verstappen made clear on Thursday — Horner’s departure makes no difference to his longer future, but a fast car would.
This in itself presents an unknown under Mekies. One of Horner’s great strengths in his role was delegating to those below him — he had largely let the technical department operate independently, knowing it was not his area of expertise. During the successes of 2023, Horner regularly deflected praise towards technical director Pierre Wache. Mekies’ technical background was a key part of his leadership at Racing Bulls but it remains to be seen how any interference from above into the Red Bull Racing technical department is received.
Then there’s the commercial side of Mekies’ apparent new position. Sources with knowledge of the meeting have confirmed to ESPN that a key moment in the last few weeks was a conversation between Horner and Mintzlaff during the Austrian Grand Prix weekend. Mintzlaff told Horner they wanted to dilute his job of the commercial oversight he had enjoyed for a while, moving it back towards the Austrian side of the business overseen by Dietrich Mateschitz’s son Mark. It seems unlikely Mateschitz would have had that conversation with Horner last month only to give Mekies a similarly sweeping mandate when the chance came to hit the reset button.
So while Mekies brings a different approach and knowledge on the technical side, his pedigree on the commercial part of the business is unknown and untested. By contrast, Horner was an astute dealmaker — he wooed the likes of title sponsor Oracle and technical partner Ford over the past few years. It’s hard to see Mekies having the same pull from a commercial point of view. From conversations with sources within both teams over the past two weeks, it is clear the feeling is that a likely outcome is that Red Bull Racing eventually appoints a CEO, or something similar, to focus on the commercial side of the business. It would be in line with the structure Mekies was just promoted from: his replacement as Racing Bulls team boss, Alan Permane, will answer to team CEO Peter Bayer, as Mekies did.
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What will the post-Horner Red Bull look like?
The Mintzlaff-Horner conversation has been brewing for a while. Marko, Mintzlaff and Mark Mateschitz had all grown increasingly frustrated by the belief Red Bull Racing has lost the identity it joined Formula 1 with in 2005 — a team willing to do things differently and have fun off track, while also beating its rivals on it. That feeling was only reinforced during the latest cycle of success enjoyed by the team.
Multiple sources within both teams repeat the same thing: internally, the junior team is seen as the more fun place to work, while the lead team, for all its success on track, has slowly morphed into a slick, corporate winning machine with few fundamental differences to its rivals at the front of the grid. How much Red Bull Racing can shift back towards that mindset remains to be seen. Several sources have told ESPN that Red Bull GmbH grew frustrated at how often Horner generated headlines in feuds with the likes of McLaren’s Zak Brown and Mercedes’ Toto Wolff.
F1 fans and media can probably expect less of that from the Mekies-led Red Bull going forward, but the wider existential question about what the fundamental DNA of the Red Bull Racing team should be remains unanswered. Ultimately, time will tell.
