Christian Horner sacked from Red Bull after 20 years in charge of F1 team

Former Red Bull F1 team principal and CEO Christian Horner was just sacked by Red Bull.

Horner ran the Red Bull team for over 20 years and helped the team achieve some pretty spectacular results.

But all of that just ended.

And Red Bull made a logical choice for his replacement.

DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie

Christian Horner left Red Bull after 20 years

After exactly 20 years, Christian Horner was sacked and will no longer be working as Red Bull F1 team principal and CEO.

“Red Bull has released Christian Horner from his operational duties with effect from today and has appointed Laurent Mekies as CEO (chief executive) of Red Bull Racing,” Red Bull GmbH said in a statement on July 9, 2025.

Red Bull didn’t really provide any details (yet), but we’re sure we’ll learn more about it in the coming days.

For now, what we do know is that Red Bull’s choice for his replacement is logical, but also risky.

As it turns out, Horner will be replaced by Laurent Mekies, CEO of Racing Bulls.

The Racing Bulls team has changed its name a few times throughout the years.

It used to be called Toro Rosso, then AlphaTauri, and now Racing Bulls, but the bottom line is that it has always been Red Bull F1’s satellite team and used cars that were not as competitive as those used by Red Bull F1.

So the choice is logical, because Mekies is already part of the company and knows the sport, but there’s obviously going to be a lot of pressure that comes with this new job for him.

Horner’s achievements with Red Bull F1

Horner’s departure marks the end of an era for Red Bull F1.

With Horner at the helm, Red Bull F1 won six World Constructions’ Championship titles between 2010 and 2025.

More importantly, Horner’s ‘reign’ coincided almost exactly with Adrian Newey’s tenure.

Adrian Newey, the most successful chief engineer in F1, left just over a year ago.

So, in the space of a year or so, Red Bull F1 team lost both its chief engineer as well as its boss.

Obviously, there’s a difference between Newey and Horner, because Newey left while Horner was let go.

Still, this looks like it could be the end of an era for Red Bull F1, who is currently trailing behind McLaren both in the drivers’ standings (behind both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris) as well as in the constructors’ standings.

Click the star icon next to supercarblondie.com in Google Search to stay ahead of the curve on the latest and greatest supercars, hypercars, and ground-breaking technology.