Christian Horner’s Exit from Red Bull is Finally Complete

Taking over for Horner as Director of Red Bull Racing and Red Bull Technology is Stefan Salzer, who was appointed in the role on July 8th. According to Planet F1, Salzer has been within the Red Bull fold since 2007, and served as the global head of HR for Red Bull GmbH. 

On the pitwall, Laurent Mekies has stepped up as Red Bull team principal and CEO, while Alan Permane has taken over Mekies’s roles at VCARB.

Horner was dismissed mid-season due to a streak of poor results and team inconsistency. For some time now, Red Bull has struggled to find a driver who can match Max Verstappen's performance, leading to very lopsided grand prix outcomes for the team. However, the reigning world champion has been having to battle his own car more and more, suggesting that driver skill is not the root cause of the issue. Overall, this has been extremely costly in terms of performance, especially compared to Red Bull's dominance over the past four years.

Yet, Horner's troubles began much earlier than this. At the beginning of 2024, he was part of a workplace investigation following allegations of harassment by a female Red Bull employee, including inappropriate behavior and sexually suggestive text messages. While he was cleared of any wrongdoing, the scandal weighed heavily upon him, with many questioning why he wasn’t let go then, instead of now.

Of note, in his goodbye speech to the employees of Red Bull, Horner said, “I’ll still remain employed by the company, but operationally, the baton will be handed over.” It is unclear if by ‘remaining employed,’ he was referring to the time period between his initial firing in July and the filings to the Companies House in August or something else. Whether Horner will remain associated with Red Bull in any capacity remains to be seen, but his role in the leadership of the Formula 1 team is clearly over.

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Cover image via Red Bull media content pool.

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