What did Christian Horner do to make Red Bull throw him in money to kick him out?

"There's no point in hiring a specialist and then trying to tell them how to do the job . So hire the right people for the right job, give them clear goals, then train them, put them in an environment where they can do what they do best and have fun doing it. That's what we're all about at Red Bull ."

Christian Horner exemplified his management philosophy at Red Bull. He had also led the Formula 1 team with that philosophy . Twenty years later, the top specialist is out of the organization . On Monday, it became known that Horner and Red Bull had terminated the remaining five years of their contract, following his dismissal on May 9. The figures for the agreement, none published, fall below €60 million, an astronomical sum .

That its current managers are paying such sums reinforces the strategic importance of Christian Horner's departure . What must the architect of Red Bull's success have done to make it worthwhile to be neutralized and paid such a huge sum?

No one has given any reasons for the departure . However, since Dietrich Mateschitz 's death, a scenario of ego and power struggles has emerged. Skirt-chasing, Red Bull's loss of competitiveness, and Max Verstappen's affections serve as a backdrop.

Goodbye to independence

For nearly two decades, Horner operated with carte blanche and direct access to Mateschitz . Ambitious but pragmatic, he assembled a powerful team with Adrian Newey as a personal coup, empowering him technically and also giving him decision-making power in the management of the team. When Horner left his office twenty years after joining the team, the Milton Keynes trophy cabinets held eight drivers' titles, six constructors' titles, and 124 victories .

Along the way, Horner controlled not only the team but also Red Bull Powertrains (engines) and Red Bull Technologies , as well as the marketing and communications department. Controversial, a force to be reckoned with, bold, and ambitious, he had become one of the real powers in Formula 1. It also seems that he had become too powerful at Red Bull.

It was in this context that the new board of directors appointed by Dietrich Mateschitz to manage Red Bull after his death came into play. In addition to his son Max, the management triumvirate consisted of Franz Watzlawick (beverage business), Alexander Kirchmayr (finance director), and Oliver Mintzlaff , managing director of corporate projects and investments, under whose responsibility all marketing activities fell, with Formula 1 as the icing on the cake. A train crash seemed inevitable.

The specialist now had to report to a leadership that would want to weigh in where a phone call and near-instant decisions had previously ruled (the signing of Newey was a perfect example, as Horner once said). But all the switches were in the Briton's hands, creating a clash confirmed by the events that were coming to light in 2024.

The day the die was cast

Starting with Horner's "inappropriate conduct" and "sexual abuse" of an employee. Although acquitted at first instance, this was followed by that famous anonymous email during the Bahrain GP to journalists, team principals, and prominent figures in Formula 1, in which he revealed the content of the exchanges between Horner and the employee, confirming that his enemies were powerful and persistent .

In the internal power struggle, the figure of Helmut Marko , part of the Red Bull duo since Horner's arrival, also emerged. The departure of the big boss would leave the Austrian out of the running in terms of power and challenged by the British in all areas. Obviously, he aligned himself with the company and the Austrian faction .

That Horner and Marko also had their disagreements was confirmed in Jeddah , when the former discovered a clause in Verstappen's contract linking the latter's fate to Marko's. The Briton fired the Austrian, as Marko announced that Saturday afternoon. Only provisionally.

Max Verstappen took a step forward: "Where he goes, we go." His father had also previously campaigned against Horner, aligning the Dutch family with Marko and, therefore, the Red Bull leadership. That day, it was learned that Horner would last as long as the support of the Thai shareholder, the Yoovidhya family: one year .

Better a bad agreement than a good lawsuit

Newey's departure was another torpedo to his waterline . Only he will know if his departure was due to having lost the internal influence he had once had (the development of the cars was the responsibility of Pierre Wache, the technical director), because he questioned Horner's behavior , or because he sensed the end of a cycle at Red Bull.

Was Horner's dismissal justified, then , by the team's decline in performance after its sensational winning streak since 2021 ? After all, Verstappen had only just won his last title. From 2014 until that year, Red Bull had been in a slump under Horner , and no one had taken any action . Dietrich Mateschitz was still alive.

Regardless of his position, accustomed to enormous autonomy and decision-making capacity, it is assumed that Horner will have been questioned about internal decisions that the leadership would not share, with the feeling of not having control, but putting up the money .

The contract termination agreement states that Horner can return to Formula 1 in mid-2026, which suggests a negotiated clause because, with such a compensation package, Red Bull could have imposed more draconian terms . Or perhaps they also wanted to compensate for his successes and services rendered, albeit outside of the company.

Or perhaps his board of directors felt that a bad deal was better than a good lawsuit . Because such a high price has been paid to remove Christian Horner from Red Bull five years before his contract expired. It all started with a meeting that not even Horner himself expected, as he admitted in May. It ended with a pile of money. What did Christian Horner do? One day, the whole truth will be revealed.