this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2025

148 points (98.1% liked)

Formula 1

11207 readers

15 users here now

Welcome to Formula1 @ lemmy.world Lemmy's largest community for Formula 1 and related racing series

2026 Calendar

Location	Date
🇦🇹 Austria	26-28 Jun
🇬🇧 Great Britain	03-05 Jul
🇧🇪 Belgium	17-19 Jul
🇭🇺 Hungary	24-26 Jul
🇳🇱 Netherlands	21-23 Aug
🇮🇹 Italy (Monza)	04-06 Sep
🇪🇸 Spain	11-13 Sep
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	24-26 Sep
🇸🇬 Singapore	09-11 Oct
🇺🇸 USA (Austin)	23-25 Oct
🇲🇽 Mexico	30 Oct-01 Nov
🇧🇷 Brazil	06-08 Nov
🇺🇸 USA (Las Vegas)	19-21 Nov
🇶🇦 Qatar	27-29 Nov
🇦🇪 Abu Dhabi	04-06 Dec

Rules

1. Be respectful.
Treat drivers, teams, and fellow Lemmings with respect. Healthy debate is encouraged, but keep it civil and constructive.

2. No duplicate news.
Please check the feed before posting. Multiple posts from different news companies reporting the exact same thing will be removed to keep the feed clean.

3. Spoilers.
This is a live sports community. We discuss sessions in real-time, so browse at your own risk during race weekends!

4. Make content accessible.
• Non-English articles: Include a translated summary (e.g., DeepL).
• Paywalled articles: Provide a brief summary in the comments.

5. Social media.
Post social media updates as screenshots so everyone can view them without needing an account. Always include the original source link.

6. Zero tolerance for spam. Strictly no gambling, crypto, or NFT-related content.

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

Photographer@lemmy.world

148

Christian Horner: Red Bull F1 team principal sacked after 20 years in charge of Milton Keynes outfit (www.skysports.com)

submitted 11 months ago by blackn1ght@feddit.uk to c/formula1@lemmy.world

43 comments fedilink hide all child comments

all 45 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 33 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Looks like speculation's back on the menu, boys!

Due to...

more legal challenges incoming?
worse performance for the past year?
an attempt to halt the brain drain from Red Bull?
Max wanted him out, and they're now complying what with Merc courting him so hard?
Red Bull lost Max to Merc, and Red Bull high ups are unhappy with Horner over it?
their engines for next season aren't looking good?
a combination of factors above?

Tbh I don't think it'd be down to performance alone. Red Bull has had down periods multiple times in the past 20 years.

[–] Munkisquisher@lemmy.nz 14 points 11 months ago

When they've been down it was before Mateschitz passed. What he said was the law and he had the people he wanted in the positions he wanted. After that there were many factions fighting and trying to make the others look bad. Cue Horniers txt messages, Max's team threatening to leave, Marko looking like he'd be fired, and Newey leaving for money when he didn't get his way. The smart technical folks saw the infighting and jumped ship to teams where they could step up in their career

[–] pHr34kY@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Waiting for Red Bull to release a statement via an attachment named File-76.JPG.

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 31 points 11 months ago (2 children)

This is a surprising development. The usual path for being pushed out of RB is to be name the 2nd seat driver for the team before being sacked.

[–] ninth_plane@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

If Mekies doesn't perform as well as he has been in RB, they should make Tsunoda CEO for a few races to get a comparison.

[–] WanderWisley@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Red Bull gives you wings, right out the door…

[–] MadMonkey@lemmy.world 29 points 11 months ago (4 children)

First guess is sexual assault allegations have been proofed?

[–] Nighed@feddit.uk 18 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Or that the owners are fed up with the car being bad, and scared max might leave and they would be the worst team on the grid.

[–] Munkisquisher@lemmy.nz 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah the owners were happy to look past it while they were getting results

[–] skozzii@lemmy.ca 0 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Yup, that was the final straw for me, and watching F1 in general. Its already a sport that has literally the worst people in the world involved from human rights and environmental standpoints, and then even the western part of the sport doesn't have any integrity.

What ever happened to honorable men...

[–] Aedis@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

Is FIFA a joke to you? Lol

[–] Munkisquisher@lemmy.nz 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

There's been very few in F1. There has however been a long history of lying, cheating, spying, poaching, backstabbing, money laundering, insider trading, influence peddling, drug running, fake sponsors, fake princes, tobacco money, oil money, dictator money, Russian oligarch money and money that was never there in the first place and left a string of debts.

[–] Damage@feddit.it 2 points 11 months ago

To be fair, with so much money orbiting around it, it's a wonder it's not MORE corrupt

[–] Microw@piefed.zip 6 points 11 months ago

They would have probably given him a reason if he was sacked for team performance.

Fired immediately without reason given sounds like something major.

[–] krimson@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago

I think Red Bull knew the allegations were true all this time but now with the teams shitty performance they probably felt like it was a good time to give him the boot.

[–] Vinstaal0@feddit.nl 4 points 11 months ago

No proof has been found that he was guilty, according to the court records. So unless new proof shows up from somewhere, this most likely isn't the case. It could be that RBR was keeping some proof away from the court case, which could be illegal, but that they now display it.

Personally, I am a bit careful with the accusations, since it wouldn't be the first time that somebody lied to get somebody else convicted for something. Women are always believed in cases like this, even when they lie about them abusing their male partner or whatever.

[–] frank@sopuli.xyz 2 points 11 months ago

Or that first set was the tip of the iceberg and they're getting ahead of it?

Baseless speculation

[–] Damage@feddit.it 23 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I foresee Red Bull getting worse

[–] 50MYT@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Watch him show up at Aston with his mate newey

[–] DV8@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

Can't really find a source anymore. But wasn't part of the explanation for Newry leaving that he was good friends with Horner's former assistant? Though I guess this could have been unsubstantiated rumours.

[–] Goodeye8@piefed.social 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I don't really see it. AM isn't in a good spot and it's very unlikely they'll suddenly become a top team next year. Newey can do his magic but it's not going to fix the rest of the team.

Max isn't going to waste his time in some midfield team, he's going to a top team or he's taking a sabbatical.

[–] TomSelleck@tucson.social 5 points 11 months ago

Supposedly Ferrari kicked the tires on Horner earlier this year. Rumors say they might let Fred go.

[–] TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Newey was reportedly pissed off about the whole sexual harassment thing.

[–] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 19 points 11 months ago (1 children)

What the fuck.

[–] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Exactly my reaction. I know things were a bit turbulent last year, but I wasn't expecting this right now!

[–] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 11 points 11 months ago (2 children)

After collecting my thoughts I'm thinking this tells us Red Bull are seriously worried about Max leaving and are trying to take desperate measures. It could be related to the sexual assault allegations but the timing seems off with that and I'm pretty sure they knew they were true all along.

[–] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 8 points 11 months ago

Yeah it's more likely to be in relation to keeping Max. The team is toast without him, they'll very likely be a backmarker with their current car.

[–] frank@sopuli.xyz 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If it has anything to do with sexual assault allegations it's because they're either worse than we thought and they're getting ahead of it, or because they can't spin whatever is gonna come up with it

[–] Naryn@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Or they've already ignored it but the performance of RB has been awful

[–] Microw@piefed.zip 2 points 11 months ago

You wouldn't fire a team principal effective immediately without giving a reason IMO. Maybe this is Red Bull operating differently from your regular F1 team and it's really just because performance and Max. But to me it sounds like something bigger – either related to the allegations or Horner did something that lost him the owners trust.

[–] frank@sopuli.xyz 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Maybe Max said "him or me"

[–] slartibartfast@feddit.uk 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

This was rumoured/hinted at in Austria if I'm not daydreaming? Was it van Haren that tweeted it?

[–] Nighed@feddit.uk 17 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

BBC link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/articles/cn5k6y1xyl3o

Autosport: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/christian-horner-sacked-as-red-bull-f1-team-boss/10740708/

The Race: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/our-verdict-christian-horner-red-bull-f1-exit-shock/

[–] cyrano@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 11 months ago

Good timeline in case you need the background: https://www.independent.co.uk/f1/christian-horner-allegations-messages-red-bull-timeline-b2785446.html

[–] bwoah@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think there are only two possibilities:

he lost Max
they did this to keep Max

Either way, this increases the chances that Max is going to Mercedes

[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

Or the relationship between Helmut Marko and him have reached the inevitable boiling point. It is either Marko out or Horner. And Max is loyal to Marko not Horner or Red Bull. If they lose Marko they will automatically lose Max as well.

[–] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 11 points 11 months ago

Well damn, didn't think I'd see the day especially mid season. Guessing this will be initially bad for red bull, but longer term probably the right call.

[–] BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

According to a quote from Sky Sports, Horner is still employed by Red Bull, I guess he's been put on gardening leave?

Yesterday, I was informed by Red Bull that operationally I would no longer be involved with the business or the team moving forward.

I will still remain employed by the company, but, operationally the baton will be handed over.

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/13394618/christian-horner-former-red-bull-team-principal-says-sacking-came-as-a-shock-in-tearful-farewell-speech

[–] Microw@piefed.zip 1 points 11 months ago

Yeah they probably can't terminate his contract immediately without some legal trouble or huge payout. So he'll be on their payroll for a while longer but not involved anymore.

[–] FrostyTrichs@crazypeople.online 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Wow. I wondered if a team principal change was on the cards for the future but a mid season sacking wasn't on my radar. Makes me wonder- is he the first domino to fall in a Red Bull Racing makeover?

[–] engene@lemmy.ca 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Perhaps the rumors of him leading the Ferrari team is true 🤔

[–] Munkisquisher@lemmy.nz 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Bwahaha, I'd hear the wailing in Italy from here in New Zealand

[–] engene@lemmy.ca 3 points 11 months ago

When all is said and done, Christian will be managing Hamilton while Toto will be managing Verstappen 😆