Christian Horner reveals ‘loss and hurt’ after Red Bull axing

Christian Horner has revealed his ‘loss and hurt’ upon being removed from his posts as Red Bull’s team boss and CEO last summer.

After two decades in charge at Red Bull Racing, Horner was stripped of his roles as the team principal and CEO in the middle of the F1 2025 season.

Christian Horner: I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye

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The suddenness of Horner’s removal, a decision made by the parent company Red Bull GmbH, has meant the British executive has maintained a very low presence in the seven months since.

Initially removed from his operational duties in early July, Horner was swiftly removed from his directorship roles across the various companies under Red Bull’s F1 umbrella in August, before negotiating a full severance from the organisation, which was confirmed on September 22.

Horner is believed to have pocketed circa $100 million in a financial settlement with Red Bull, with a compromise on his gardening leave period understood to leave Horner free to return to competition in the second half of the F1 2026 season, should an opportunity arise.

Horner had been on a long-term contract to lead Red Bull’s F1 operations until, at least, 2030, before he was suddenly axed in the days after the British Grand Prix.

No official reason was ever offered by Red Bull GmbH as to why Horner was removed from his posts, but it’s thought that there was fundamental disagreements between Horner and Red Bull GmbH CEO Oliver Mintzlaff and advisor Helmut Marko, Horner’s fellow team director, regarding overall control of the team, with Mintzlaff and Marko eager to bring control of this aspect to the Austrian parent company.

In the statement from September 22, Horner conspicuously did not acknowledge Marko, despite the duo’s shared history over two decades at Red Bull.

Aside from an on-stage appearance at the European Motor Show in Dublin, Ireland, at the end of January, Horner has not spoken publicly about the time period in which he left Red Bull but, in the new season of Netflix’s Drive to Survive, the 52-year-old was visited by the producers to carry out a special interview.

Horner, who was a primary protagonist in the series, was visibly emotional as he spoke to the camera, with the segment interspliced by conversations between himself and his wife, Geri, in which they speak candidly about the shock.

“After the Austrian Grand Prix, we turned up at Silverstone and Max [Verstappen] qualified on pole, but ended up finishing fifth,” Horner said of his final race, a second consecutive home race that played out badly for Verstappen after being eliminated on the first lap in Austria, the home of the Red Bull organisation as a whole.

“24 hours later, I was contacted to attend a meeting in London.

“That was where they informed me that, operationally, I was no longer, from that moment onwards, involved in the running of the Red Bull Formula 1 team.”

With the shock of the moment visible on Horner’s face, he said, “I feel a real sense of loss and hurt. It was all rather sudden. I didn’t really get a chance to say a proper goodbye.

“How do I feel? I never imagined being in this position. Of course, your immediate reaction when you’ve delivered a shit sandwich like that is ‘F**k them’.

“I’ve had something taken away from me that wasn’t my choice, that was very precious to me.”

Speaking to Geri, he pointed out how she had had an inkling that something was amiss after the disappointment of the Austrian round.

“[Geri] thought it was going to happen,” he said. “We came back from that Austria race, and I remember, you [Geri] sat on the bed one night and went, ‘Something really bad is gonna happen’.

“I have only ever given my best. I did my best for my team, for the people that I represented. The performance this year hasn’t been as strong as previously.”

Asked directly whether he believes the decision was pushed for by Max Verstappen and his father, Jos, who had publicly called for Horner’s job at the start of the F1 2024 when an internal investigation into allegations of his behaviour was launched by GmbH, Horner poured cold water on the suggestion.

“His father has never been my biggest fan. He’s been outspoken about me, but I don’t believe that the Verstappens were responsible in any way,” he said.

“I think this was a decision that was made by Oliver Mintzlaff, with Helmut advising from the sideline.

“Ultimately, things changed within the business, within the group, when the founder died. After Dietrich’s death, I think probably I was deemed to have, maybe, too much control.”

Horner’s final season saw the ‘curse’ of the second Red Bull seat continue, with Liam Lawson falling flat in the first two race weekends as the Kiwi was promoted from the sister team, Racing Bulls.

In Japan, a decision to swap Lawson for the more experienced Yuki Tsunoda was taken, but the Japanese driver also failed to flourish over the remainder of the year.

“It wasn’t my choice,” Horner said of the switch.

“I was always pushed to take drivers from the young driver programme. Helmut was a big driver in it.

“The reality is that for me, over the last 20 years, on the good days and the bad days, it’s been an epic journey.

“We’ve achieved heights that others could only dream about. There’s been a rivalry. There’s been competitiveness. I enjoyed every minute of that.”

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Christian Horner’s text messages with Toto Wolff

Horner’s axing brought down the curtain on a long-standing rivalry with his Mercedes counterpart, Toto Wolff.

With the duo leading the two dominant teams of the 2010s and 2020s, the pair infamously have never seen eye-to-eye as rivals, with their bickering and occasional open hostility being a major draw for fans.

With Wolff losing his sparring partner, Horner reads aloud the text message conversation he exchanged with Wolff following his removal/

“He said, ‘I didn’t know what to say’,” Horner reveals.

“He said, ‘Because, on one side, you’ve been a real asshole, but, on the other hand, the sport will miss one of its main protagonists. Who should I fight and love to hate, as you always said?’

‘Wolff and Horner have a combined 14 of the last 15 World Championships. Not a bad joint statistic’.

“I responded to him, ‘I’ve loved locking horns with you all these years. So thank you for the rivalry, the competition, the needle. No one else even came close. As the statistics point out, I wish you the very best for the future’.

“‘P.S., you need a haircut.'”

With a heavy silence falling after he finished reading the exchange, Horner lightened the mood as he brought the interview to a conclusion.

“I think we’re done!” he said, “for now…”

Drive to Survive Season 8 is released on Netflix on February 27.

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