Last Updated on July 9 2025, 12:52 pm
It was a regular cloudy British summers day in Northamptonshire, just three days after the biggest F1 event of the season at Silverstone. A mass dump of emails arrived to F1 publications across Europe from the Austrian based Red Bull parent company, announcing the shock sacking of Christian Horner.
The email directed all enquires away from the Red Bull Racing team’s regular PR function in Milton Keynes, to an address associated with the Austrian based energy drinks company. The surprise timing of the announcement, which makes no sense, together with the clandestine approach by the Austrian directors leaves a whiff of suspicion this was a repeat of the attempted coup in 2024.
Oliver Minztlaff, CEO of the energy drinks empire, was suspected to be behind the breaking news scandal which engulfed Horner last year, but he was then twice cleared of any wrong doing from an independent enquiry run by one of the finest legal minds in UK law.
Austrian coup complete
A dump of emails containing a huge quantity of confidential ‘evidence’ presented to that enquiry landed in the inbox’s of over 150 senior paddock individuals before Horner was cleared. This was clearly an inside job on the Red Bull team boss and for a while the finger of suspicion pointed in the direction of Dr. Helmut Marko.
At race weekend two in Saudi Arabia last season, it was thought Dr. Marko was about to be disciplined as reports emerged he had been benched by the Red Bull team for the up coming race in Australia. In fact Marko did attend the Melbourne event and received the public backing from his driver Max Verstappen.
With the employee complaint kicked into the long grass as a UK employment tribunal hearing set for January 2026, the unrest within the Red Bull organisation appeared to have died down. Although Max won just two of the final fourteen Grand Prix of the season, he claimed his fourth consecutive drivers’ championship although due to their second driver problems the team fell to third in the constructors’ title race.
Verstappen has won just two races this season as McLaren continue to assert their dominance in F1. There’s been talk of the Dutch driver leaving for Mercedes, rumours stoked by Toto Wolff and George Russell at the recent Austrian Grand Prix. And as is the ebb and flow of F1 dominance, Red Bull Racing appear to be in retreat at the moment.
Brain drain or poor Verstappen relations?
There have been numerous reports of a brain drain from Milton Keynes, with lifer Rob Marshal departing for McLaren, Jonathan Wheatley heading to Sauber and more recently team strategist Will Courteney who is also heading to McLaren.
Red Bull also lost the greatest ever designer of F1 cars in Adrian Newey, although TJ13 learned at the time Horner was managing him out of the business after years of Newey’s restlessness affecting the design team. Adrian left his role as technical director of Red Bull back in 2018 and from then on worked part time coming and going as he pleased.
So have Red Bull suffered a brain drain? In terms of senior staff moving on Ferrari and Mercedes have experienced similar comings and goings although the regularity of the Red Bull departures made more headlines throughout the F1 publications of Europe.
Much has been made of the poor relationship between the Verstappen’s and Christian Horner yet Eric Van Haden of Dutch publication De Telegraaf who is close to Max believes too much has been made of this. Jos Verstappen has at times been highly critical of Horner claiming last year unless Horner left, the “team will be torn apart.”
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The timing in ‘shocking’
“I think the relationship between Christian Horner and Max was not as bad as we think,” Van Haden tells Sky News adding “If you are in a marriage, you don’t have be be always on speaking terms.”
The Dutch reporter believes the timing of this announcement is hugely surprising. “Its a big shock that this decision came at this point, two weeks before the summer break and also six months before the new regulations come into effect with the new engine – and Red Bull is building their own engine for the first time ever.”
Martin Brundle claims he has had contact with Horner today, and reveals “no reason was given to him as to why he was being released.” The email dump today with the breaking news and the exclusion of the Red Bull’s PR function almost certainly point to the fact this is the result of tensions which grew between Austria and the team after the death of Didi Mateschitz in 2022.
During the mega dominant season in 2023, when Red Bull won all but one race, Horner is believed to have demanded more power to his arm in terms of the structure of the team. Red Bull Racing had been run on an ad hoc advisory basis for years, with Dr. Helmut Marko as an advisor and Horner team boss but with Matechitz making the final calls.
Mekies NOT announced as Red Bull team principal
Interestingly it appears Red Bull will now undergo a restructure, with Laurent Mekies today appointed as CEO – not team principal as a direct replacement for Horner. It is likely that the removal of the Red Bull team boss has been done on a technicality in his contract, where a performance clause has been activated exactly half way through the season.
Martin Brundle believes today’s announcement means its more likely that Verstappen will now stay with the team and reject the overtures from Mercedes. Yet the reverse could easily be true, in that Verstappen had indicated to the Austrian directors he is in fact leaving the team – which may have prompted todays shock announcement.
From a strategic point of view, with the biggest regulation changes coming a few months down the road, sacking Horner is not a calculated decision, but one born from the internal battles which have raged between Milton Keynes and Austria since Didi Mateschitz passed away.
Ferrari boss hit back at Hamilton complaining
Ferrari boss puts down Hamilton complaints – Lewis Hamilton was hoping that his favourite F1 circuit at Silverstone would boost his flagging first year with the Ferrari team. The seven times world champion did achieve his best finish of the season to date, coming home in fourth place behind the jubilant Nico Hulkneberg.
In his post race interviews Lewis was critical of Ferrari’s strategy in the race together with capabilities of the SF-25 the Scuderia have delivered for him to drive. “We lost a lot of places through strategy. I’ not really sure how I was P4 and then came out [after a tyre change] P8. So that made life difficult.
“Then I stopped early hoping for a big undercut and Jeez it was so tricky. This car does not like those conditions at all. A big snap and wide in turn three, lost me a ton of time…. Lots of mistakes, it was chaos out there.”… READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
