The Crimson Bull Racing Method 1 workforce all appears to have come unraveled within the final couple of years underneath the management of workforce principal Christian Horner. After twenty years on the helm, with six World Constructors’ Championships and eight World Drivers’ Championships to point out for it, Horner was relieved of his place Wednesday. The workforce haven’t offered purpose for the choice, which comes a few yr after Horner’s inside sexual misconduct allegations, although it is almost certainly associated to the dramatic falloff in efficiency the workforce have seen during the last two seasons and his falling out with Crimson Bull lead driver Max Verstappen’s father Jos Verstappen. Horner has been changed by Crimson Bull junior squad Racing Bulls workforce principal Laurent Mekies.
Issues simply have not been the identical because the demise of the taurine-infused vitality drink firm co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz in 2022, a significant supporter of Horner’s. A political rift started to develop inside the squad with Horner on one aspect and workforce advisor Helmut Marko—with the assist of the Verstappens—on the opposite. Horner’s intercourse pest scandal ripped by the paddock in 2024, deepening that rift and additional pushing a number of key elements of the workforce to both name for Horner’s removing, or depart themselves. Ford, RBR’s engine accomplice for 2026, has been vocal about displeasure with Horner’s actions, legendary technical director Adrian Newey left the workforce for Aston Martin, and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley left in 2024 to run Sauber. The one factor saving Horner from an earlier exit was the automobile’s efficiency, however with the workforce’s poor kind in 2025 he is out.
Fully out of the blue
With a near-perfect 2023 season that noticed Crimson Bull Racing rating 21 Grands Prix victories from 22 rounds, the workforce was using a large ahead wave, however it’s all come crashing down since. Whereas 2024 noticed Max Verstappen rating his fourth WDC trophy, the Crimson Bull workforce started collapsing when quantity 2 driver Sergio Perez struggled to ship outcomes of any form and the workforce misplaced the constructor’s trophy to a resurgent McLaren. 2025 has solely seen a worse Crimson Bull automobile and an improved McLaren, with Max scoring simply two victories so far and Crimson Bull mired in fourth place within the constructors’ championship behind Ferrari and Mercedes. The recalcitrance of Verstappen’s RB21 is visibly evident, and rumors abound that he is been sad with the workforce for a while now and may very well be departing to hitch Mercedes for 2026.
It is doable that Max informed the workforce he’d stick round in the event that they sacked Horner, or possibly he is already dedicated to leaving the workforce and it is Horner’s fault. It is doable we’ll by no means know the machinations of the choice, however in both case it appears Crimson Bull can solely actually go up from right here. The workforce must fully restructure and rebuild from the fallout of the final two seasons, and a renewed give attention to the 2026 season regulation change may pay dividends for them at this level. This undoubtedly marks the top of an period for the racing squad, however maybe the start of a greater one with out such a brash hothead on the wheel.
