Horner Claims Red Bull Gave No Reason for Painful Exit

A year after his shocking July 2025 dismissal, Christian Horner finally details how it unfolded.

Horner sacked without a reason

Guiding Red Bull through two dominant eras – Vettel’s and Verstappen’s – he amassed six constructors’ and eight drivers’ titles, yet says the new Austrian board tossed him aside with no clear reason.

He flatly rejected claims that clashes with Verstappen or his outspoken father sparked his ouster.

“No, it was a Red Bull decision,” Horner said. “After Dietrich died, the leadership shifted.”

A “brutal” end to a 20‑year dynasty

The blow came amid personal tragedy: days before being shown the door, his former partner Beverley Allen, mother of his daughter Olivia, died from eye cancer.

Balancing grief with the massive task of building Red Bull Powertrains, he found the cold dismissal almost unbearable.

The pain was overwhelming, and I only processed it a month later while caring for my daughter.

Taking a thinly veiled jab at the current regime led by Oliver Mintzlaff and Laurent Mekies, Horner warned that loyalty is fading fast in F1.

In my view, the ruthlessness shown was unnecessary. “History repeats itself. Not all teams act that way,” he asserted. “Many have faltered, yet you don’t see the same brutality we faced when we left, even after securing pole at the last race.”

Surviving the sacking

He admitted the emotional toll of watching the 400‑person startup he built grow into a 2,200‑person powerhouse, but says he’s gradually finding peace beyond the paddock.

He noted a restored, reasonable relationship with Mintzlaff, who recently thanked him for enabling the team’s first fully independent engine win in Bahrain, and added that stepping away from F1’s political grind gave an unexpected mental break.

“The past two years were tough, especially with an 11‑year‑old grieving her mother,” Horner said. “Nothing mattered more than that.”

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