Horner Leaves Red Bull After 20 Years of F1 Success

Horner Leaves Red Bull After 20 Years of F1 Success

Christian Horner has been the leader of the Red Bull Racing team since it started in 2005. Under his leadership, Red Bull won six Constructors’ Championships (team wins) and eight Drivers’ Championships (drivers’ wins).

There were two big times when the team was very successful: first in the early 2010s with driver Sebastian Vettel, and now with Max Verstappen.

But in the last 18 months, things have been difficult for Horner and Red Bull.

In early 2024, Horner faced some trouble off the track when a female coworker accused him of bad behavior. The accusations were later dropped, and Horner said he did nothing wrong, but it caused problems.

On the racing side, the team is not doing as well this season. Horner’s last race as team boss was the British Grand Prix. Verstappen started first but finished fifth.

Right now, Red Bull is in fourth place in the team rankings, behind McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Verstappen is 69 points behind the leader, Oscar Piastri.

After Horner left, Laurent Mekies became the new CEO of Red Bull Racing. Mekies was already part of the team and now leads it during tough times.

Horner’s leaving is part of several big changes at Red Bull, including the recent leaving of designer Adrian Newey and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley.

Even though Horner’s time ended with some problems, he helped make Red Bull one of the strongest teams in Formula 1 over the past 20 years.