Brundle: Verstappen more likely to stay at Red Bull after Horner firing

The repercussions of Horner's shock exit—at least timing-wise—from Red Bull Racing are still not over, as the future of Verstappen with the team is the current talking point, with reports linking him to either Mercedes or Aston Martin all over the place.

Weighing in on the matter, Brundle said of Horner's dismissal: "It is not completely out of the blue, given the problems in the team. I'm quite sad about it. I consider Christian a friend, and he's done an incredible job for 20 years.

"He's won an awful lot of races and world championships for drivers and the team. He took it from what was the Stewart team and Jaguar into a massive campus in Milton Keynes and [had] an awful lot of success and a huge trophy cabinet.

"It's not too difficult to feel in the F1 paddock and to observe and hear that things were not particularly rosy," the Briton revealed.

Despite Red Bull Racing's success under Horner's leadership, the unraveling of the situation within the team can be traced back to the day Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz died in October of 2022, which kicked off a power struggle within Milton Keynes, with matters going into overdrive with Horner's sexting scandal back in 2024.

Brundle commented: "Dietrich was the 49 percent owner of Red Bull who started it with the Yoovidhya family.

"He was in charge. Nothing happened without Mateschitz signing it off. He was the absolute leader of that group. Since his death, it started to go wrong."

The sexting scandal started a civil war within Red Bull Racing, with the Verstappen camp, Max and father Jos, taking a stance against Horner. Jos in particular claimed Horner's presence will destroy and team and called for his outing.

Brundle said: "It perhaps makes it more likely that the Verstappens will stay there. I think it became quite personal.

"Every point, podium, and victory Max has through his own genius driving is in a Red Bull car. He's often said he wants to see his career out at Red Bull if he can.

"They are debuting their own engine for the first time next year, in what will be the biggest change in F1 history of car and power unit, at the same time.

"Christian has been in the driving seat of that aspect of the team completely. Max has an exit clause based on where he is in the world championship at the end of this month.

"Does this mean he's more likely to go or stay? I can only surmise it means he's more likely to stay at the team," the Sky Sport F1 pundit maintained.

Brundle was then asked about Horner's replacement, Laurent Mekies, who was drafted from Racing Bulls. The Frenchman has had previous roles with the FIA and Ferrari, and he is an unknown entity, especially when it comes to such a broad management role at the helm at Red Bull Racing.

"We are seeing people like this more and more now becoming a team boss," Brundle said of Mekies' appointment. "Look at the incredible job Andrea Stella is doing at McLaren, James Vowles at Williams—people with a technical background are in the driving seat of that aspect.

"Laurent has done a great job at Racing Bulls, and they have seen that within the Red Bull group and immediately moved that over.

"Jonathan Wheatley, who would have fancied that job big time, has moved over to Sauber, which will become Audi, and perhaps the fact he fancied Christian's job expeditated that.

"Alan Permane, who is taking over Mekies at Racing Bulls, has a huge amount of experience of the operational side of an F1 team too," Brundle concluded.

(Quotes from Sky Sports F1)