Christian Horner says Red Bull's 'brutality' is gone as he reflects on sacking, grief and his 14 titles

'Painful. Very painful.'

Christian Horner should be in Singapore, preparing for another grand prix. Instead he is at home in Highgate, where his wife, Geri Halliwell-Horner, greets the interviewer with a hug. Horner is amiable but careful, and when he talks about the end of his 20 years at Red Bull, he does not hide his distress.

Horner was exonerated by two independent investigations into 2024 allegations that he had sent "hundreds" of inappropriate texts and photographs to a female employee. But he says the circumstances around his sudden departure in July 2025 were painful. "It felt particularly brutal and sad to finish in that manner. But I now have a reasonable relationship with Oliver Mintzlaff [the CEO of corporate projects at Red Bull]. He rang the other day and thanked me for all I'd done for the engine."

He says he did not process the dismissal until a month later, because in the immediate aftermath he focused on supporting his daughter Olivia through a "hideous period" after the death of her mother, Beverley Allen, from eye cancer.

A power struggle after Dietrich Mateschitz

Horner says the reasons for his sacking remain opaque. He believes there was a feeling "there was too much control in my hands", but adds: "I wasn't really given a reason." He says the death of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz in 2022 changed the leadership, and that Helmut Marko, a key consultant, had stayed as a guest of his family two days before the sacking "with no indication this was coming". Asked whether the Verstappens were partly responsible, he said: "No, it was a Red Bull decision. After Dietrich died, things changed in the leadership."

Asked whether the 2024 allegations contributed to his dismissal, Horner said: "I'd come through that, dismissed them. So this was more focused on performance and the future." He added: "I've said everything I can say, and there are certain legal reasons [why] I'm not at liberty to go further."

Engine pride and a lost mojo

Nine days before the interview, at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Verstappen won Red Bull's first race with an engine built entirely by the team, a project Horner had conceived and instigated. Verstappen won again in Singapore on the Sunday before the interview.

"I felt very proud seeing what it meant to everybody and that they sent the Powertrains representative on to the podium... It reinforced to me that, if you assemble the right people with the right culture and the necessary tools, anything is possible."

Yet Horner still believes Red Bull has lost something. "Red Bull has been the maverick team. It's pushed the boundaries. Only Red Bull would do something crazy enough to build a new engine as a subsidiary of a fizzy drinks manufacturer. It's a little different now."

Mental health, identity and the future

Horner paid tribute to Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, who has spoken openly about his battle with depression. "The identity of many middle-aged guys is through their work. Suddenly you have that stripped and taken from you. Who are you? What are you? What is your purpose? You either curl up into a ball or brush yourself down and get up."

Asked whether he might never work in F1 again, Horner said: "Absolutely. But if I don't go back I had a hell of a run. I won one in every four races I competed in. I had 287 podiums out of 405 races. Nobody could take away the 124 wins and 14 championships [six constructors' and eight drivers' titles]."

Earlier this season, Horner said Ferrari was the only team he would consider joining in a regular team principal role without an ownership stake, calling it his "dream" job. Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur later described Horner's search for a job as a distraction, though that reporting predates this interview.

Reflecting on Red Bull's culture

Horner, who arrived in 2005 as the youngest team principal in F1 history, recalled that when he started at Red Bull there were under 400 people, and when he left there were 2,200. He said he never had a big staff turnover because of loyalty. He broke down briefly while telling staff of his fate. "It was very strange because that group became your extended family. So the tears on grown men's faces was deeply moving."

Reflecting on the sacking, he said: "History repeats itself. Not all teams act in that way. A lot of teams haven't delivered over the years but you don't see the same brutality as when I left."