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Horner sacked by Red Bull - what's behind the bombshell move? (ad-free)
🕑 Added 2025-07-09 14:54:28 +0000 UTCThe bombshell news that Christian Horner has been ousted as Red Bull team principal is explained in the latest edition of The Race F1 Podcast.
Jon Noble and Mark Hughes join Edd Straw to discuss his sudden departure and the circumstances surrounding it - including the potential impact on Max Verstappen.
We also discuss what to expect from new Red Bull Racing CEO Laurent Mekies, and also his successor at Racing Bulls, Alan Permane. And with question marks over performance next year, what does all of this mean for Red Bull’s longer-term F1 prospects?
Horner’s legacy and role in Red Bull’s climb to the top of F1, and the question of what he will do next, are also explored.
We'll be doing a follow-up podcast where we answer your questions about the Horner/Red Bull situation. Listen to the pod and then leave your follow-up question in the comments!
Comments
Xepha
lol if I’d been asked before today id have said Wolff or Horner without a second thought. Depending on your views of fashion and what a team principle is I suppose it could also be Flav, though that is definitely not what I think of as fashion.
Xepha
I am just now realizing that the peculiar strategy past at Minardi also correlates to Alan Permane’s move to the team, and Mekies’ move won’t provide clear evidence of who the dominant influence on those poor calls is because permane won’t continue as sporting director at Minardi and Mekies will be backstopped by GP and Schmidt at Red Bull…I think my question stands but I wanted to note that I do understand it’s hard to disambiguate permane and Mekies’ recent runs of form.
Perkin Warbeck
Is Mekies the most stylish F1 team principal?
Xepha
How will Mekies perform on this radically larger stage? Minardi has been strategically poor in races since he joined, he was associated with poor race engineering at Ferrari*, and he hasn’t had to make any big decisions about drivers. The small matter he had a hand in, which was managing Ricciardo’s firing, was poor especially on the PR side. There isn’t an explicit track record of success there. Hoping you folks can tell me what I’m missing. *He lives in my recollection as Mr. “STAY OUT! STAY OUT!” From one of Leclercs many failed Monacos.
