Christian Horner has been sacked by Red Bull team, from his longtime duties as team principal. The 51-year-old was shockingly removed after a 20-year stint with the F1 team. Under his guidance, Red Bull registered eight F1 driver's titles, four each for Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen and six constructor's' championship titles. Under him, the team rose to worldwide popularity and also became one of the top teams in the history of F1.
Red Bull has witnessed a major decline in its performance in the ongoing F1 season as McLaren has completely dominated. The team currently stands at the top of the constructor's rankings with 460 points under their belt. Additionally, both of their drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris sit at the No.1 and No.2 spot respectively on the driver's standings. However, defending champion Verstappen remains third in the standings and the team is fourth on the constructor's rankings with 172 points.
Horner's sacking comes as nothing short of a big blow for Red Bull and things can soon get even worse for the team as uncertainty looms over reigning world champion Max Verstappen's future. Earlier in June, Mercedes driver George Russell had revealed that the team are in talks to sign Verstappen for the next season.
"It's only normal that conversations with the likes of Verstappen are ongoing. But from my side, if I'm performing as I'm doing, what have I got to be concerned about? There are two seats in every Formula 1 team," Russell had told Sky Sports.
Earlier this year, Horner was accused of sexual harassment and coercive, controlling behaviour by a female employee.This lead to an internal investigation by a lawyer and an investigation by another lawyer who dismissed the complainant's appeal. Eventually, Horner came out innocent and got cleared of the claims twice.
Red Bull didn't give a reason for the Horner's dismissal, they rather thanked him for his contribution and that he will always remain pivotal for the team.
“We would like to thank Christian Horner for his exceptional work over the last 20 years,” Oliver Mintzlaff, Red Bull's chief executive for corporate projects and investments said in a statement..”
“With his tireless commitment, experience, expertise and innovative thinking, he has been instrumental in establishing Red Bull Racing as one of the most successful and attractive teams in Formula 1. Thank you for everything, Christian, and you will forever remain an important part of our team history," he added.
Meanwhile, Racing Bulls team principal Laurent Mekies is set to replace Horner as the new team principal and chief excecutive of Red Bull Racing. Mekies has been in charge of Red Bull's junior F1 team and was previously a director at Ferrari as well.
The first F1 race that Mekies will be in-charge of for Red Bull Racing will be the Belgian Grand Prix which is set to be conducted on July 27. Notably, Verstappen had finished fifth in the Belgian GP last year and will be looking to improve his performance this time around.