Outside Line: Thoughts on Horner and Red Bull saga

It caught the entire paddock off guard, us included, even though a couple of hours before the news broke, we had flagged the brain drain Red Bull suffered since Horner became entangled in the sexting scandal he’s never truly shaken off.

Despite being cleared, the fallout triggered the exits of key personnel: Adrian Newey, Jonathan Wheatley, Rob Marshall and others. That scandal was only the beginning. The ship has been taking on water ever since. Juan Pablo Montoya suggests Horner's sacking could be because Verstappen is next to go. Time will tell, and it would make sense, as this midseason timing is a headscratcher.

In denial since it all blew up, Horner tried to insist it was business as usual, that Red Bull wouldn’t be affected. But it was. It is. The team is in tatters, largely thanks to a massive brain drain and the repercussions of that. Furthermore, the RB21 is undrivable for anyone except Max Verstappen, and even he is struggling. No progress. Simply refer to Silverstone last Sunday, where they were brutally exposed on all fronts.

Furthermore, there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel since his escapades became the time-consuming and spirit-sapping fodder of gossip. This once-dominant Red Bull team has been driven off a cliff, and Horner, the driver, has paid the highest price for his silly indiscretions.

It’s a shame. Horner sullied an extraordinary F1 legacy with moments of stupidity. Whatever those texts were, they were his downfall. No exoneration could erase them. Where there was smoke, there was fire, and it burned Horner. He survived a year and a bit. No longer.

Laurent Mekies now has the keys to Horner’s office, and the 'Christian Horner' name tag is likely already off the door.

Horner, to his credit, built one of the greatest Formula 1 teams the sport has seen. Evolving from running junior teams to becoming the youngest ever Team Principal with Red Bull Racing, to delivering two eras of dominance.

Under Horner's two-decade watch, Red Bull competed in 405 GPs, starting from pole 107 times, 287 times their drivers celebrated on the podium, 124 times as winners. During those periods of dominance, they scooped four F1 Drivers' titles with Sebastian Vettel, another four title streak with Verstappen, six F1 Constructors’ Championships. It’s a hell of a CV.

While his downfall was of his own making, Red Bull cannot erase what he achieved. He stands among the most successful team bosses in F1 history, right up there with his nemesis Toto Wolff and his miracle-making at Mercedes

If mega-F1 scoundrel Flavio Briatore can return to team management, so can Spice Boy. He might even have a gig sorted. Cadillac, Ferrari, or any team in need of a sharp team principal must have him on speed dial. He dropped the ball, self-destructed at RBR, yes, but he can catch it again and move on.

Can he do it again? Yes. At 51, he’s still young and has one of the best management CVs in Formula 1 history. A sabbatical wouldn’t surprise me. He could see how 2026 plays out, then make a move. I am confident we haven’t seen the last of Horner in F1.

The Englishman played a central role in shaping the last two decades of Formula 1. But when you step into the F1 paddock, your private life is no longer private. You are under scrutiny. This site will cut through PR noise, media bias and try to get to the truth.

No surprise then, we have been consistent in our reporting since Jos Verstappen warned that the team would implode unless Horner stepped aside. Brit media downplayed the criticism.

You could not ignore Jos’s words about the state of Red Bull in March last year: “There is tension here while [Horner] remains in the position. The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim when he is the one causing the problems." Prophetic.

Jos, of course, is the architect of the weapon that is Max Verstappen, making a good case for the undisputed GOAT of F1. Jos' own F1 career and experience alongside Michael Schumacher gave him the blueprint for what he calls "my life's project" to get his son to where he is. He policed every step of Max’s rise, from karting to Toro Rosso, and even now he lurks to make sure his son is protected.

He could not keep quiet when the proverbial "sh!t hit the fan" in Max's team. And Jos was right. The implosion happened since then, and now Horner is gone. Time to repair.

What comes next under Mekies will be fascinating. Ask me now if he, (known affectionately in our WhatsApp group as 'Melissa') is the right man for the job, and I’ll say: No. But that is unfair. He’s barely begun. Still, he has massive shoes to fill and really has nothing on his CV to suggest he is the extraordinary leader a team of this stature requires for a renaissance.

Maybe Thai billionaire businessman and co-owner of Red Bull, Chalerm Yoovidhya, who is not a petrolhead like Red Bull Racing founder Dietrich Mateschitz once was, looks around and flips it for several billion to Ford. Who knows? For now, it is all speculation.

Make no mistake, this news is a bombshell that will have repercussions until a whole bunch of musical chairs are filled. With Horner gone, Verstappen's future is now firmly in the limelight.

Has Wolff finally signed the Dutch ace as Montoya suggests? Watch this space! As I wrote in the first paragraph, we thought it was going to be a slow two weeks. It isn't!