Just days before Christian Horner was officially dismissed from his role as Team Principal and Chief Executive Officer of the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team, Max Verstappen had publicly defended both Horner and the wider Red Bull management amid the squad’s noticeable dip in performance during the 2025 season.
On July 9, 2025, Red Bull Racing made headlines by announcing the termination of Christian Horner’s contract after a remarkable two-decade tenure at the helm. The position of Team Principal and CEO has since been filled by Laurent Mekies, who previously held the same role at Racing Bulls (formerly AlphaTauri), Red Bull’s sister team.
Christian Horner leaves behind an extraordinary legacy, having been one of the most successful Team Principals in the history of Formula 1. Under his leadership, Red Bull achieved 124 Grand Prix victories and won a total of 14 World Championship titles—comprising eight Drivers’ Championships and six Constructors’ Championships. Notably, Horner was the only Team Principal Red Bull has ever had since its debut in the sport.
Although rumors of his departure had circulated as early as 2024—following the scandal that made headlines and cast a shadow over his leadership—those whispers became a reality by mid-2025, as internal changes within the team accelerated.
Verstappen’s words in defense of Horner
Red Bull Racing’s success story under Christian Horner’s management is tightly linked to the exploits of Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, who each secured four Formula 1 Drivers’ World Championships for the Milton Keynes-based team. The team also secured four Constructors’ titles during the Vettel era and added two more under Verstappen’s reign.
Despite Max Verstappen claiming the 2024 Drivers’ Championship, the competitive advantage that defined Red Bull’s dominance began to erode during that season. By the end of 2024 and into the 2025 campaign, the RB21 had slipped behind rival cars such as those from McLaren and Ferrari, frequently being the second- or even third-fastest on the grid. While Verstappen started the 2025 season strongly—winning seven of the first ten races—he managed only two victories in the following fourteen events, underscoring the team’s performance decline.
In contrast, the 2023 season had marked the pinnacle of Red Bull’s dominance in Formula 1, with Max Verstappen winning an astonishing 19 out of 22 races, setting numerous records and delivering what was arguably the most dominant season in F1 history. The sudden shift in competitiveness during 2024 and 2025 has raised many questions, with some directing criticism toward the team’s leadership.
However, just six days before Horner’s removal, Max Verstappen addressed the situation publicly and came to the defense of the Red Bull leadership, downplaying the idea that management was solely to blame for the team’s recent struggles.
“It’s always easy to talk when things are going well,” Max Verstappen remarked. “People say, ‘Oh, the leadership is working.’ If you had asked this question back in 2023, what was the right way to run a team, the answer would’ve been: ‘Red Bull is dominating, so clearly everything is working perfectly.’”
He continued: “So yes, it’s easy to point fingers at the leadership when things go wrong, but I don’t see that as a negative. This year we’ve made some improvements in terms of balance, but there are still areas where we’re lacking. In the slower-speed corners, for example, we are not particularly strong.”
The Dutch driver concluded by highlighting where the Red Bull RB21 is falling short compared to its closest rivals: “Especially in the medium-speed sections, that’s where McLaren is incredibly strong right now—and we just can’t match them.”
Max Verstappen’s comments appear to be a direct acknowledgment of the technical and performance-based challenges Red Bull is facing in 2025, while also serving as a message of loyalty to the leadership team that had guided him to multiple world titles. His statements underscore the complexity of Formula 1, where success is never guaranteed, and where leadership can quickly come under scrutiny when results begin to falter—even after years of dominance.
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