LONDON: Christian Horner was Wednesday sacked by Red Bull Racing after 20 years as team principal of the Formula One outfit. The 51-year-old has been in charge since the team was formed in 2005 and led them to eight drivers' titles and six constructors' crowns.
Dutchman Max Verstappen has won the past four drivers' titles for Red Bull, matching the achievement of Sebastian Vettel, who dominated for the team from 2010 to 2013.
Horner's dismissal as CEO and team principal comes 17 months after he was accused by a female colleague of "inappropriate behaviour."
The Englishman was twice cleared over the claims by the Formula One team's parent company, Red Bull GmbH, and his wife, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, stood by him. But there have been rumblings of discontent within the team, with several high-profile departures, while form on the track has nose-dived.
"Red Bull has released Christian Horner from his operational duties with effect from today (Wednesday) and has appointed Laurent Mekies as CEO of Red Bull Racing," said a statement from Red Bull GmbH.
Oliver Mintzlaff, CEO of corporate projects and investments, paid tribute to Horner, thanking him for his "exceptional work".
"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," he said.
"Thank you for everything, Christian, and you will forever remain an important part of our team history."
'Difficult to drive'
Horner's departure comes amid speculation that Verstappen may be tempted to jump ship to Mercedes.
Although the 27-year-old Dutchman won the title last year, he only topped the podium twice in the final 14 races of the season.
Red Bull have won only two races this season, with McLaren taking their place as the team to beat.
Verstappen is languishing 69 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri at the halfway point of the campaign and finished a disappointing fifth at Sunday's British Grand Prix, having started on pole.
He showed frustration with his Red Bull during the race, saying: "This car is just so difficult to drive."
Other key figures responsible for the team's previous dominance have left since last year including design guru Adrian Newey, who signed for Aston Martin, and Sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, who joined Sauber.
Max Verstappen's father Jos, a former F1 driver, had expressed his dissatisfaction with Horner even after he was cleared of the charges of inappropriate behaviour. He warned the team was in danger of being "torn apart" if Horner remained.
Mekies, who has been promoted from Red Bull's second team, Racing Bulls, has had a long career in Formula One, previously working as racing director for Ferrari. "The last year and a half has been an absolute privilege to lead the team with Peter (Bayer)," the 48-year-old Frenchman said in a statement.
"It has been an amazing adventure to contribute to the birth of Racing Bulls together with all our talented people. The spirit of the whole team is incredible, and I strongly believe that this is just the beginning."
A brutal end to a rollercoaster reign
Horner twice transformed Red Bull into Formula One's dominant team over his two decades in charge but he was unceremoniously axed after declining fortunes and internal disputes.
A Red Bull team whose time at the top was clearly ending -- Max Verstappen had won just two of the last 14 races -- and a draining spell ahead of the 2024 season when he was cleared of inappropriate behaviour towards a woman team member should have rung alarm bells for the 51-year-old Englishman. Instead, just as he did when those allegations emerged in February 2024, Horner carried on working in the hope he could reignite another period of dominance.
Sebastian Vettel won four consecutive titles under Horner from 2010 to 2013, with Verstappen winning the past four. Red Bull also won six constructors' crowns in that time.
However on Wednesday, with this season's car not competitive with rivals McLaren, a discontented Verstappen and the constant hemorrhaging of pivotal backroom talent, his 20 years as CEO was ended brutally.
A characteristic of Horner's which his close friend and ex-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone highlighted to AFP, after he was cleared of improper conduct last year, may have been his ultimate downfall.
"I said to Christian at the beginning 'Come out and say you're sorry' but he told me: 'No way, I don't want to compromise, I have done nothing that I need to say sorry for'."
His wife, former Spice Girls pop star Geri Halliwell, simply told him: "Make it all go away."
Horner has never been one to compromise since turning his back on trying to make it as a racing driver and going into management.
Appointed as the youngest team principal in the Formula One paddock aged 31 in 2005 he oversaw eight drivers' titles -- a remarkable achievement by any yardstick. He has since become a fixture on the grid wall over the last two decades, the tactical mastermind of Verstappen's four straight titles.
Power and sway
Eloquent, bright and combative, his spats with his opposite number at Mercedes Toto Wolff have made for compelling viewing, not least when Verstappen controversially deprived Lewis Hamilton of an unprecedented eighth world crown on the last lap of the last race of the 2021 season in Abu Dhabi.
As team principal and chief executive of Red Bull Racing, Horner had an enormous amount of power and sway over a vast empire based at the team's Milton Keynes headquarters in England.
During his time at the tiller the company's workforce ballooned from 450 to 1,500, with one of that number's allegations shocking the F1 community.
Wolff described the investigation as "an issue for all of Formula One" while Williams chief James Vowles said "we all have to look each other in the mirror and make sure that we are... acting in a way that we can only be proud of, not today but in the next 10 years."
The turning point in Horner's career was when he first came into contact with the ambitious Austrian company Red Bull and its 'father' Dietrich Mateschitz when he was in F3000.
Mateschitz, who died in 2022, had purchased the Jaguar F1 outfit in 2004 -- and saw enough in the young Horner to appoint him as team boss for Red Bull's top-level debut in 2005.
Among the many inspired moves Horner made was to bring on board Adrian Newey, ranked as one of the most talented engineers and designers of his or any other generation.
Newey, who climbed aboard the Red Bull wagon in 2006, produced the cars that won the drivers' and constructors titles every year from 2010 to 2013, the drivers' championship in 2021 and 2024, and both championships in 2022 and 2023.
Newey's departure for Aston Martin this season signalled the foundations on which success had been built at Red Bull by Horner were foundering.
Despite all the attendant stress of being at the helm of steering such a colossal enterprise through the choppy waters of a multi-billion pound industry -- Horner retained an air of boyish enthusiasm.
He married Halliwell, best known as Ginger Spice, in 2015, and the couple have one son, Montague. Horner also has a daughter from a previous relationship.
He will now have plenty of free time to devote to his family and the football club he supports, second-tier Coventry City, and also ponder where it all went wrong, that perhaps compromise is worth it, and what his next step will be.