- This week in Belgium, Christian Horner will miss a grand prix weekend for the first time in 20 years
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A strange, though not unexpected, thing is happening in Spa this weekend with Christian Horner not showing up as he has done on the last 405 occasions a grand prix has been staged.
Michael Schumacher was the defending champion 20 years ago when the little-known Englishman, then 31, started on his masterpiece of 14 world titles. He never missed a race until he was sacked after the British Grand Prix earlier this month, the background to which Mail Sport can reveal more details on Friday.
But first we must mark a seismic moment in Formula One: an important tie among the old Piranha Club of team principals to Bernie Ecclestone has been cut, taking an era with him, for now at least. He sat down in the old days with the likes of Ron Dennis and Flavio Briatore (still involved as a consultant at Alpine) and Frank Williams when they slit each other’s throats but mostly shared mutual respect.
Only Toto Wolff is left of the big beasts running their teams directly. Yes, Zak Brown is overall chief executive of McLaren but his team principal is Andrea Stella — and he is an engineer, as are the majority of his counterparts. Clever men, decent men, but the paddock is duller for their prevailing over the true giants on whose shoulders they stand.
And what will Netflix do without Horner sparring with Wolff? It’s Punch without Judy.
That was the backdrop in an appropriately grey Spa as Max Verstappen spoke in the press conference up in the Red Bull motorhome, aka the Energy Station. His dad Jos roamed in an adjacent space. He was no fan or supporter of Horner but reined in his hostility in recent months so as not to interrupt his boy’s progress — Max wanting only a fast car, whoever runs the team.
Max spoke politely of Horner. He is not a gusher, but I understand he has twice been in touch with his old boss since he was ‘released from operational duties’ 17 days ago. Their last contact was Thursday morning.
We can piece together the events in the immediate build-up to Horner’s defenestration. According to sources, the pivotal moves started on the Monday after the British Grand Prix on July 6, when Verstappen finished fifth and Yuki Tsunoda last.
Results were poor and as the saying at Red Bull goes, it is ‘all about can’, not the man — as in protecting the brand through high achievement.
Quite what motivated the decision at that moment is unclear — Horner was given no explanation — but I understand Oliver Mintzlaff, chief of Red Bull GmbH, the parent company in Salzburg, and Red Bull’s co-owner Mark Mateschitz spoke to each other.
Helmut Marko, the company’s 82-year-old motorsport advisor, was ill-disposed to Horner and helped push the subject into minds at Salzburg.
I understand there was one final hurdle to clear for the putsch to work, namely the Thai wing of Red Bull in the shape of Chalerm Yoovidhya, who was Horner’s chief protector when he was accused last February of inappropriate behaviour towards a female colleague — charges he denies and of which he was twice cleared.
A source told Mail Sport: ‘Chalerm was very reluctant to ditch Christian. He was a big supporter but he is a results man in the Red Bull tradition and felt in the last resort he could not resist the urgings from Austria.’
By Tuesday, the decision was made and Christian informed. So was Verstappen, directly by the shareholders. Tsunoda was told by Marko. The official announcement came out on Wednesday morning.
Other staff were released with Horner — loyal chief marketing officer Oliver Hughes and Horner’s trusted communications supremo Paul Smith, known to some, including his erstwhile boss, as ‘Pencil’ for his penchant of wearing one behind his ear. A source in the factory recounted to Mail Sport that they were briskly escorted out of the building in Milton Keynes.
A tearful Horner addressed the staff. Many were devastated. ‘He had everyone’s back and they knew that,’ said another insider. ‘I am not talking about the high-ups but the people who function on the ground at races. The yeomen of the team.’ Some of whom had been there from the start.
A question for Red Bull now is whether they can cling on to all the foot soldiers. Cadillac, who are coming on to the grid next year, are on a recruitment drive and ready to splash the cash.
For Verstappen, nothing much has changed regarding his future. He will stay at Red Bull next year — 99 per cent for certain. He would like to stay beyond then, but he will determine that based on the formbook following next year’s regulations overhaul.
So, it is over to Frenchman Laurent Mekies, who was ironically brought into Red Bull’s junior outfit, Racing Bulls, as team principal by Horner in 2023. He is 48 and nobody in the paddock has a bad word to say about him.
Mekies, who graduated from Loughborough and Paris, began at Arrows on a career that took him to Minardi, Toro Rosso, the FIA and Ferrari, where he was racing director before moving to the Red Bull stable. He has begun work with gusto and has talked at length to Verstappen since taking over. A factory source says he speaks of empowering his staff.
On his success hinges Verstappen’s long-term future, and thus his own.
