Christian Horner out as Red Bull team principal in shocking F1 shake-up

Christian Horner’s reign as team principal for Red Bull came to a stunning end on Wednesday as the organization moved to fire him midway through the 2025 Formula 1 season.

The decision came as Max Verstappen settled for fifth place in the rainy Silverstone Grand Prix, while Yuki Tsunoda finished in 15th.

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Red Bull is also fourth in the constructors’ standings, behind the dominant McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes. Red Bull won the constructors’ championship in 2022 and 2023 before being knocked off the throne in 2024 by McLaren. Red Bull had six constructors’ titles under Horner since 2010 and eight drivers’ titles.

“We would like to thank Christian Horner for his exceptional work over the last 20 years,” Oliver Mintzlaff, Red Bull’s chief executive for corporate projects and investments, said in a statement.

“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. Thank you for everything, Christian, and you will forever remain an important part of our team history.”

Red Bull also said Horner would “forever remain an important part of our team history” but didn’t give an exact reason for the dismissal.

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Red Bull started the season in flux after dropping Sergio Perez to bring up Liam Lawson. However, Lawson got off to an awful start and was quickly replaced with Tsunoda. However, the Japanese driver has failed to score a point in the last five races.

There are also questions around whether Verstappen, the winner of the last four world championships, will remain at Red Bull for 2026. 

The announcement also came more than a year after Horner was accused of misconduct toward a team employee. An investigation conducted on behalf of Red Bull dismissed the allegation, as did a further probe conducted after the employee appealed against the ruling, the team said at the time. Horner remained in charge of the team throughout the process.

Red Bull’s sister team, Racing Bulls, also received a shakeup. With Laurent Mekies taking over as chief executive of the Red Bull team, his role was filled by Alan Permane.

Permane was the racing director at Racing Bulls.

“The spirit of the whole (Racing Bulls) team is incredible, and I strongly believe that this is just the beginning,” Mekies said in a statement through Racing Bulls.

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“Alan is the perfect man to take over now and continue our path. He knows the team inside out and has always been an important pillar of our early successes.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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