Horner fired!!

[Used to be Starter]

Thoughts?

[N. Jones]

Marko won the war. Does that mean they will be at the top in the near future? I don't think so.

[airshifter]

I just hope they don't adopt the mentality of Ferrari. That being sack the team principal if you aren't winning. But really, that seems to be what has taken place this time around, though politics have been boiling up in the behind the scenes power struggles for a while now.

No way to treat someone that has been loyal to the team for so long, and brought them multiple titles.

[F1nKS]

I would say that when you allow the inmates to run the asylum, you are in trouble. Red Bull looks to be in trouble. It appears to be a housecleaning at RB, as other executives were let go. Unfortunately, it seems that Marko was aligned with Jos and is safe. However, his track record in his "advisory" role, although proven ruthless, has damaged Red Bull's future, especially if Max leaves for Mercedes or Aston Martin. They should have gotten rid of him also (and maybe they are with all the Seb talk).

The reality is that when Dietrich Mateschitz passed away, a power struggle ensued that sought to eliminate Horner. The young Mateschitz probably wanted to make his mark and thus needed to remove Horner. And Horner made it relatively easy with him pursuing the lady that worked for RB, whom Jos was also seeking. Reality TV comes to F1.

I know nothing about Mekies, but the guy who replaces a legend rarely does well because the bar is set too high. I would expect some rocky days (and years) to lie ahead for Red Bull.

[N. Jones]

Usually the first replacement of someone successful is a flunky. I do not have high hopes for Mekies.

[F1nKS]

Usually the first replacement of someone successful is a flunky. I do not have high hopes for Mekies.

Red Bull is no longer in a retooling period; they are entirely in the rebuilding process with the number of turnovers in the organization.

2024 Austria Max V - 1:04.314
2025 Austria Max V - 1:04.836

They have not had any successful development on their car and seem to be going backwards. I would expect that they will go backwards in 2026 with them trying to field their first engine and will be trying to claw back in 2027 and 2028.

[Used to be Starter]

They have not had any successful development on their car and seem to be going backwards. I would expect that they will go backwards in 2026 with them trying to field their first engine and will be trying to claw back in 2027 and 2028.

They also no longer have the chassis guru.

[Steve Boyd]

I just hope they don't adopt the mentality of Ferrari. That being sack the team principal if you aren't winning.Red Bull own a number of football (soccer) clubs & that's the custom in that sport.

Jürgen Klopp to take over? :) :)

[airshifter]

It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I think Mekies is a decent guy and has been around for a while, but he's being put straight into the fire of the team being in a season of stuggle, and new tough regs right around the corner. I can see that he might end up being like the drivers that don't stick around.... Kvyatt, Gasly, Albon, and eventually they even chased off Checo. I hope he does well next year, as I suspect RB might not be the one with the stronger engines to start the new regs.

As for Max, I think he would also be smart to wait and see what '26 brings. Chances are it won't be RB dominating, but no doubt he will have offers and options.

[Steve Boyd]

Thoughts?They'd run out of #2 drivers to fire & all the other senior people have departed so Horner was the only one left to fire!

[airshifter]

I'm actually both surprised and shocked the the commentators on race weekends haven't tried to turn this into something it isn't. I almost expected the talking heads to turn it into a huge issue but they haven't.

[F1nKS]

I'm actually both surprised and shocked the the commentators on race weekends haven't tried to turn this into something it isn't. I almost expected the talking heads to turn it into a huge issue but they haven't.

I would expect that if the RB season continues its trajectory as it is now, it will become an issue that the media will take up at the end of the year or next offseason/next year.

I listened to Marko give an interview, and he said that Horner's downfall was that he wanted to be in charge of everything. He said Mekies will only have limited control, and he says his area that he will have a say in is "racing". There will be others in charge of different areas.

Leadership by committee has "failure" written all over it.

[F1nKS]

I'm actually both surprised and shocked the the commentators on race weekends haven't tried to turn this into something it isn't. I almost expected the talking heads to turn it into a huge issue but they haven't.

I would expect that if the RB season continues its trajectory as it is now, it will become an issue that the media will take up at the end of the year or next offseason and/or next year.

I listened to Marko give an interview, and he said that Horner's downfall was that he wanted to be in charge of everything. He said Mekies will only have limited control, and he says his area that he will have a say in is "racing". There will be others in charge of different areas.

Leadership by committee has "failure" written all over it.

[F1nKS]

After another disastrous weekend, Red Bull is still not on message, which is what happens when everybody is in charge and nobody is really in charge.

Marko says

We know what the problem was and it wouldn't occur again

Max said he disagreed with Marko statement. Verstappen thought Marko's statement was a bit rushed and wanted to first analyse with the team what had really happened.

Laurent Mekies also contradicted Marko and said


The honest answer is that if we knew, we would probably have fixed it. What I can tell you is that it was there from the first lap in FT1, like we look at each other and say, we say, what's going on? And we could see, you know, in all the slow speed, medium speed, we had just very slow minimum speed."