Almost a week on from the sacking of Christian Horner, no explanation has emerged as to why the Red Bull boss was dismissed and in particular why now? In terms of changing the future direction of the Formula One team, there was no real urgency given they are well underway with their new powertrains division and designs for the radical new 2026 cars.
Of course, the night of the long knives had internal political motivations for the Austrian directors of the energy drinks empire, yet the fallout from their decisive action is yet to fully unravel and may include a forced sale of their Racing Bulls outfit.
On the face of it, the decision appeared to be a reaction to the persistent reports that Max Verstappen was leaving for Mercedes. But whilst those in Max’s corner were anti-Horner, there’s little evidence to suggests the world champion himself had any beef with the former Red Bull boss.
Horner’s sacking may have accelerated Verstappen decision
In fact leaving for Mercedes in 2026 would not have been the optimum decision for the world champion to make. According to F1 car design guru, Adrian Newey, it is likely one team will emerge as the front runner in the next era of F1. “There has to be a chance that one manufacturer will come out well on top, and it will become a power-unit-dominated regulation, at least to start with. There’s a chance that if it’s on the combustion engine side of it, that somebody comes up with a dominant combustion engine that will last through the length of the formula, because the way the regulations are written, it’s quite difficult for people who are behind to catch up,” New told AMuS.
This could be Honda, Mercedes, Ferrari even Red Bull or Audi yet given the way the regulations are formed, no one can do what Mercedes did in 2014. So why leave Red Bull now for a punt its Mercedes who will come out on top and any contract signed is likely to be a multi-year deal. The smart decision wold be to wait and see how 2026 goes, then whoever is ruling the roost would surely have an opening for the finest driver on the grid.
In fact, the sacking of Horner may have the reverse effect on Verstappen. With Red Bull needing to rebuild under new leadership, the Dutch world champion may see years of struggle ahead for the Milton Keynes based team. A typical Mercedes contract in recent years saw even the seven times world champion placed on a one year deal, with an option for either side to extend for another season.
The void left by Horner will take some time to fill, as will the rebuilding if confidence from the employees that the team will not ultimately suffer from the loss of it’s co-founder. Max may as well take a punt on what life looks like on the outside of Red Bull, something he has only known so far for the entirety of his F1 career.
‘Finalising the details’ with Mercedes
One thing is certain neither McLaren, Ferrari nor Mercedes will offer him the extremely preferential position he has in the Red Bull Racing team, where his every wish is doted upon and his misdemeanours overlooked. With Horner gone, the reports of a deal for Max with Mercedes have accelerated.
He was even tracked via his private jet last week visiting Wolff on his private yacht. Now someone from inside the Verstappen camp is revealing that Max is finalising the details of a deal with the silver arrows. Former Renault F1 driver and brother of Verstappen’s partner, Kelly Piquet, has been speaking on the Pelas Pistas podcast.
Nelson Piquet Jnr confirmed, “They [Mercedes and Max] are talking, everyone knows, right?” The Brazilian goers on to confirm the talks are in an advanced stage, “Just missing final contract details,” he revealed. “But everyone knows that it’s an option. They are talking.”
There’s been some speculation that Verstappen may take a year out in 2026, something Piquet Jnr dismisses out of hand. “He will be on the grid in 2026.” Further Max’s ‘brother-in-law’ contends the dutch champion has until August to exercise the escape clause in his Red Bull contract by which time “he needs to have made a decision, they will either get the final details right or not,” said Piquet Jr. adding “but I think it would be pretty cool.”
Marko’s invisible hand in the sacking of Horner
Just 2 weeks until the deadline
As if there was any doubt to the podcast hosts understanding of Nelson’s somewhat oblique comments, he pressed the issue clarifying whether the ‘details’ referred to Max staying or leaving Red Bull. Piquet Jnr. was adamant stating simply, “to switch.” There has been paddock chatter in recent times that Verstappen and the Red Bull team have become distanced by the troubles between Horner and his father, something ex-Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger now seeks to address.
‘’You could see it was heading this way with Red Bull Racing. If Horner was truly surprised by this, that’s a bad sign, because even as an outsider, you could foresee it,” said Berger in an interview with Kronen Zeitung. ‘’The most important thing right now is to stabilise the whole team and reintegrate Verstappen into it. Red Bull Racing is clearly in a downward spiral – the goal now should be to rebuild this team effectively.’’
Yet with just two weeks to go before the August deadline, the decision will already be made by Verstappen and as Piquet Jnr. states, all that is left would be the matter of ‘details.’ Without Max Verstappen this season, Red Bull would be languishing at the bottom of the table with the second car contributing just seven points at the half way stage of the season.
Fernando Alonso announced his departure from Alpine the day the F1 summer break began as this tends to be the the standard time when F1 contract break clauses are activated. Christian Horner’s fall from grace may have been surprisingly swift, but the ramifications for the team may be more like a ‘death by a thousand knives.’
Horner’s dismissal may force the sale of the Racing Bulls
When the third longest serving team principal was sacked last week it marked the end of an era in Formula One. At just 31 years of age, Christian Horner was appointed the boss of the fledging Red Bull team recently acquired from Ford in the form of the failed Jaguar F1 programme.
At the time, F1 was in a very different place than it is presently. A number of failed F1 teams had been and gone and there was significant concern over the potential loss of manufacturers who were propping up the grid. During just the Red Bull team’s first season of competition in the sport in 2005, minnow outfit Minardi was put up for sale.
The conditions of the sale were that the new owner invest $400m in the racing team and that its base remain at its historical location in Faenza, Italy. Having recently acquired the Red Bull team, co-founder of the energy drinks empire, Didi Mateschitz, agreed to Paul Stoddart’s terms and bought the Minardi Team to function as an operation where drivers from Red Bull’s junior programme could move into F1…. READ MORE
The Judge, a nom de plume of an experienced F1 journalist and site founder with long-standing sources across the paddock. 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.
