It’s been nearly two weeks since the sacking of Christian Horner at Red Bull. Now that everyone has had some time to digest the news, Zak Brown has commented on the situation. There have been many rumours about Horner over the past few years, starting with the employee harassment scandal back at the start of the 2024 season.
In the meantime, we have seen Red Bull go from a well oiled machine to a team struggling to reach the podium on a consistent basis. McLaren on the other hand, have found a momentum that can only be described as dominant.
Zak Brown comments on the timing of Horner sacking
While the sacking of Christian Horner might have come as a shock to many, the real factor in this was the timing of it according to Zak Brown. While driver changes are nothing new at Red Bull during a season, we have never seen a Team Principal being shown the door. However, with the rising amount of drama over the past few years, this news should not come as quite the shock it is made out to be:
“Maybe the timing is a surprise, but not the result. I think there’s been a lot of drama there the last couple of years, and it doesn’t seem like that drama has been calming down — maybe been getting worse.”
“So, I’m not surprised, anytime in the middle of the season. But we’re head down on our championship. They’ve got Max Verstappen still knocking on the door, so we’ve got to pay attention to that. But, yeah, tremendous amount of success they had.”
While Brown keeps looking ahead on the season, he is in less trouble than he makes it out to be. At the moment, McLaren are 1-2 in the Driver’s Championship separated by 8 points with Verstappen 61 points behind. The Constructor’s Championship on the other hand is all but sealed with 12 races to go. McLaren have more than double the amount of points compared to their closest rival Ferrari.
Brown looks ahead to Horner’s next adventure
Now that the Formula 1 season will move on without Horner at the helm of Red Bull Racing and Laurent Mekies stepping in for the remainder of 2025, Brown comments on what could be next for Horner. After all, Horner has 20 years of experience in Formula 1 and an extensive list of achievements in that time.
“Given his age and his history in motor racing, I’d be surprised if he didn’t show up somewhere in motor racing. But I don’t know his other interests, whether he wants to go run a football team or what have you. So, we’ll see.”
BREAKING: Oliver Oakes Resigns as Alpine F1 Team Principal, Flavio Briatore Takes Charge
There have been quite some changes in team principals with Fred Vasseur taking over at Ferrari last year. Jonathan Wheatley started his journey at Sauber just this April and Flavio Briatore replaced Oliver Oakes at Alpine. All these changes leave Toto Wolff as the longest serving team principal in the sport.
There are some clear opportunities for Horner if he wants to continue in Formula 1 and share his expertise. However, we will have to wait and see what these opportunities are and what they will look like. Where do you think Christian Horner will end up for 2026? Leave your prediction in the comments.
