Christian Horner has recently narrated how he was sacked as the Team Principal and CEO of the Red Bull Formula 1 team.
Horner was relieved of his duties at the helm of the Milton Keynes-based outfit in July last year – after leading the team to two decades of success.
The Briton’s dismissal came as a natural culmination of the steep decline the team had been in since 2024 and allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ levelled against him, or so it seemed.
But in an interview with The Athletic, Horner revealed that his ousting came out of the blue and was frankly too ‘abrupt’.
Horner had been called into London on the pretext of discussions on marketing. Instead, Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff, Helmut Marko, and Red Bull’s head of HR kept the press release of his departure in front of him, he claimed.
“I didn’t have the inkling it was going to be dealt with so abruptly,” he said.
“It was only when I really pushed to say, ‘Well then there has to be a reason’ that I was given ‘It’s more Christian Horner Racing than Red Bull Racing’.”
Christian Horner sets benchmark for F1 return
Since his departure, Horner has been linked to a bevvy of teams. He was in the running to acquire a minority stake in Alpine before Mercedes and Toto Wolff seemingly blocked the move.
Recently, the Briton had revealed that Ferrari would be the only team where he would consider joining without an offer of equity.
Horner has also been linked to Chinese EV giants BYD – with suggestions of the Briton masterminding their debut onto the F1 grid.
But the former Red Bull boss has made it clear that his return to the sport would have to be backed by some pretty compelling reasons.
“I’m not sure I do, in all honesty,” Horner admitted when asked what would motivate him to bring himself back to the paddock.
“For me, it would have to be a really exciting project. It wouldn’t just be for anything.”
Horner’s telling memoir ‘Drive’ released in the UK last month with a global release scheduled for early 2027.
READ MORE – Adrian Newey responds to Christian Horner ‘abandon ship’ comments
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