Horner Out! Is Verstappen Flirting with Wolff?
Red Bull principal Christian Horner
Christian Horner is stepping down from Red Bull Racing after 20 highly successful years, during which he helped secure an impressive 14 championship titles!
6 Constructors’ Championships and 8 Drivers’ Championships – 4 with Sebastian Vettel and 4 with Max Verstappen. Under Horner’s leadership, Red Bull became one of the most decorated teams in modern Formula 1 history.
The official reason for his departure hasn’t been disclosed by Red Bull, but various sources point to behind-the-scenes tension between Horner and the team’s senior management – particularly Helmut Marko and Max Verstappen’s father, Jos Verstappen.
Horner is the last of several key figures to exit the team over the past 18 months.
The first was legendary car designer Adrian Newey, who moved to Aston Martin.
Later, sporting director Jonathan Wheatley left for Sauber – soon to become Audi’s factory team starting in 2026.
It’s worth noting that all these internal changes followed the death of Red Bull co-founder and F1 visionary Dietrich Mateschitz in 2022.
Meanwhile, rumors are swirling that Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is doing everything he can to lure Verstappen away from Red Bull.
In recent days, Max’s private jet, Unleash the Lion, which can be tracked online like most aircraft, was seen near Milton Keynes (home of Red Bull Racing HQ) before heading to Sardinia – where Wolff’s yacht was reportedly anchored.
Is this the beginning of Red Bull’s decline? It’s hard to say.
One thing seems clear: Verstappen isn’t staying because Horner left – Horner had to leave so Verstappen would stay.
In his first public comment after stepping down, Horner posted on Instagram:
Others in the paddock have also weighed in:
Bernie Ecclestone called Horner’s sacking a “crime” saying there must have been serious justification for such a drastic move.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown admitted he supports the decision, adding that internal tensions at Red Bull have been brewing for years – in his view, Horner’s departure was “probably inevitable.”
Red Bull has since announced Laurent Mekies as Horner’s replacement.
Thrown straight into the deep end, Mekies leads the team into the Belgian GP weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, with a package of car updates: revised chassis settings and aerodynamic tweaks aimed at handling the circuit’s notoriously variable – often rainy – conditions.
Mekies admits:
“I need time to start fixing the situation.”
But, as former Haas boss Guenther Steiner points out, meaningful improvements won’t happen overnight – it’s a matter of months, not weeks.
Red Bull is entering an entirely new era under Mekies’ leadership.
The upcoming race weekend at Spa will be crucial not just in terms of performance but as a symbolic first test of whether the team can regain its stability after Horner’s departure.
The outcome could influence not only Verstappen’s future but the entire structure of the Milton Keynes-based team.
