Horner Hot Takes

By Gavin Huet, Graeme Woolf, Chelsea Wintle and Scott MacLean

If you haven’t have guessed from this website and others in the last 24 hours, Red Bull’s F1 team have parted ways with Team Principal Christian Horner after 20 years. While Aiden McLaughlin covered this in detail last night, at Sportsfreak Towers we love putting together takes hotter than a set of F1 brakes (or Max Verstappen’s temper when things aren’t going well).

Bringing the heat? F1 regulars Gavin Huet, Graeme Woolf, and Chelsea Wintle, joined by part-timer and full-time revhead Scott MacLean.

 

Why now?

Gavin: If you think it is about sexual impropriety, or that he is too powerful or something, then I have a bridge to sell you. This is after all a team that will overlook some casual racism. No, this is happening now purely because the Red Bull team are not performing. All the other stuff is a distraction that they could live with but ultimately this is a results driven (haha) sport (business) and the results are not good. In the immortal words of Mr Spice “change your fucking car”, well the person who could do that was Christian but instead he has allowed key staff to abandon the sinking ship that is Red Bull whilst playing silly buggers with the careers of the drivers in the second seat. Red Bull gives you bugger all.

Graeme: There’s no real reason why Red Bull pulled the trigger and moved on from Horner now. This must have been brewing for a while especially after the high-profile departures of so many key figures within the wider team. From the outside it looks like Horner is running the team to the ground. They are effectively a one car team now with no real back up plan in place to get a half decent second driver. After having put all his eggs in the Max Verstappen basket, the powers that be have finally had enough.

Chelsea: It seemed sudden, but was it? Journalists commented on Horner’s reticent demeanour at Silverstone. It makes sense that a new team principal would need six months to bed down before new regulations kick in, but surprising that they didn’t wait until the summer break. Some speculate about more unsexy damp squib text messages coming out, but I think it’s more to do with simply making Red Bull into a team that Jos-ahem-Max Verstappen wants to stay in.

Scott: There’s four possibilities why: 1) There’s more to come about about Horner’s personal behaviour and this is a pre-emptive strike. 2) Max Verstappen made it clear it was “Me or Him”, 3) Max has already signed for someone else and Horner has been sacrificed, or 4) results have been so poor (by comparison) this year the hierarchy have had enough.

What next for Max?

Gavin: I don’t think this will change whatever Max is going to do, it might change what his father Jos does though… Max may be his own man but he is still very guided by his father, and I think the wheels are already in motion for a 2027 move once everyone has had time to see how the teams are handling the new regulations, and if Red Bull is near the top then expect Max to stay even though he will court every single team on the grid. Personally, I think he should sign for Cadillac and lead the team to glory. If Max can make the undriveable Red Bull driveable then he should be able to make a brand-new team and car competitive, what a story that would be.

Graeme: Normal procedure for Max. Without knowing this, I said after the weekend that Max to Mercedes won’t happen and now it definitely won’t, not next season anyway. I think the Max camp will be quietly happy with this “result” given the rumblings over the past year that his father hasn’t been happy with Horner after the allegations against him.

Chelsea: Max will stay at Red Bull through 2026. In interviews, he wishes Horner the best but claims all decisions were made by people who weren’t him. George will secure a 12 month extension with Mercedes over the summer break. If Red Bull’s fortunes don’t improve by this time next year, then let the games begin.

Scott: My assumption here is that the spiciness between Red Bull’s main man and the team boss has been decided in Max’s favour. His value to their brand far exceeds Horner’s and they can’t afford to lose him, but the proof of how much Max still values the team might be decided by the term of any extension and the $$$ involved. And even then you are still left thinking he’ll grow wings and depart soon enough.

 

What next for RB?

Gavin: The 2025 season is over for Red Bull; it is now about getting the structures and the car in place for 2026 and the new regulations. And remember this ultimately affects two teams with Racing Bulls now having a new team principal too so anything Red Bull does has to be looked at over a wider picture. I think they should plan for Max leaving so the first point of call is to start looking at driver lineups for next season, and the only one of the current crop that is not Max that I think should stay is Isack Hadjar. Racing Bulls should promote the rookies, while Red Bull should be looking at an experienced driver to lead the team and steady the ship, Fernando Alonso would be a good choice.

Graeme: This will be interesting. Part of me thinks that if their engine next year is a dog, they’ll sell up and Red Bull will move away from F1 completely, and that this is the beginning of the end. But they are too big of a team to just bin it all, surely. As long as Max is there, they’ll have one competitive car, so that’ll give them hope. Getting Laurent Mekies from the little sister RB team is a great hire already as he’s done good things wherever he been.

Chelsea: Laurent Mekies will hold the helm at Red Bull through the remainder of 2025. Seb Vettel returns in a consulting role in an attempt to make the team likeable again. Helmut Marko continues to haunt the garage like Emperor Palpatine.

Scott: Red Bull aren’t in a great place. They’ve lost design genius Adrian Newey to Aston Martin, been passed on the track by McLaren and if not for Max’s unworldly skills others would have, and they’re moving into an era of new regulations and building their own engines. Laurent Mekies has his work cut out starting now:

 

 

What next for Horner?

Gavin: Christian is still employed by Red Bull so nothing will change at the moment, and even if he ultimately leaves or is fired he will have to tend the grass at home (not a euphemism) and wait out his contractual obligations. If Flavio Briatore can make a comeback then I am sure Christian can too, but I do not think it will be to a top team and I do not think it will be as team principal, at least initially. I expect a “special technical advisor of race day operations” kind of role in one of the smaller teams who will then kick their team principal out after 18 months and hand the reins over to the newly married to a reiki massage therapist Christian Horner.

Graeme: The talk already is that he’ll be back in another team at some point. I don’t think that will be this season. He’ll take some time and Wannabe close to his wife. They may Spice up their Lives and head to a beach somewhere for a bit before saying Goodbye. A team will Tell him what they Want and next thing he’ll be back. Sorry, that was bad.

Chelsea: He gets in bed with a couple of other gingham-shirted, old moneyed country gents and buys Alpine. His wife takes the lead on branding and everything is white. Livery, white. Overalls, white. Tyre jacks, white. Dry cleaning bills bankrupt them within eight months. He returns to the farm and Geri joins Celebrity Big Brother to pay the bills.

Scott: Red Bull are still paying him, but whether he’s given a job of any note remains to be determined. He could live rather comfortably for the rest of his days, but you have to suspect he’ll miss the paddock and the limelight and will soon be telling Geri What He Really Really Wants to do.

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