After the breaking news of Christian Horner leaving his place as Red Bull’s Team Principal, Sky Sports’ F1 reporters Craig Slater and David Croft went over the details. Known for their years-long contribution to the F1 world, Slater and Croft always shared extensive commentary and analysis. Yet, today’s news had them out in Milton Keynes, at the RBR base, to give a glimpse of the current situation.
Following up on no recent rumours, the Horner announcement was made today, July 9th 2025 (BST). This decision left many surprised. However, there was no question that this season and the last had a decline in terms of performance. With Red Bull’s P4 position in the Constructors’ Championship and the current rumours of their World Champion leaving, the Christian Horner firing seems like an attempt to fix issues.
The details of the announcement
As the world of F1 is in chaos, there is some information in terms of the timeline of Horner’s Red Bull departure. Craig Slater and David Croft gave an overview of these details for Sky. Furthermore, the two reporters shared some time stamps of when the decision took place, as well as the parties who were present:
“We understand this decision was finalised yesterday by the Red Bull board. There are two shareholders there, Christian Horner — it was communicated to him yesterday, and then senior sponsorship partners were told yesterday evening. Christian Horner then came here this morning and addressed the staff at 10:00am UK time. And he left the campus at 11:25.”
Moreover, Slater explained that the Red Bull staff cannot give any comments on the Horner decision. According to him, two other senior management figures (Chief marketing officer Oliver Hughes and Group Director of Communications Paul Smith) also left the team. Their relation with the Team Principal was close, said Slater. Nevertheless, some employees seemed emotional over this departure.
“Staff have been told to make no comments. This is being handled by the Salzburg office. I understand that two other senior management figures with close connections to Christian Horner have also left their employment here at Red Bull at this time. But in terms of the rank and file here, we’ve managed to speak to a few off camera and significant emotion amongst them.”
Horner’s impact as TP
Additionally, David Croft emphasised this sadness going around in the air at Milton Keynes. The Sky reporter went on to highlight Horner’s contributions for both the F1 team as well as Red Bull’s general expansion. Besides, Christian Horner’s work over the last two decades, his dismissal from TP left a “unified sense of disappointment”:
“Yes. And that emotion is one of sadness today. Look around at Red Bull campus — that 20 years ago was barely a third of the size that it is now. In Christian Horner’s time as CEO and Team Principal, he has seen the extensions, engine factories, and wind tunnel factories. The workforce increased to over a thousand people now. And that’s just on the car side. The engine side, the wind tunnel that’s been built as well, employing even more.
“From those that we’ve managed to speak to, it is a unified sense of disappointment and sadness at a man that they say has unified their team. Who was never afraid to sit and have a chat with various people, no matter what they did for the organisation.”
His final speech
Furthermore, Croft talked about the speech Horner held the morning of the public announcement in front of the Red Bull employees. Allegedly, Christian Horner was incredibly emotional during his farewell. Additionally, he left the campus after a great ovation:
“The speech that Christian Horner gave this morning to the factory, we understand, was hugely emotional. And Christian himself was very emotional and broke down on occasion. He received a massive ovation at the end of that speech from a workforce that are very loyal to him. Because he has helped bring success and bonuses. And world championship glory in terms of 14 world titles during his time as team principal.
“He drove out this morning at 11:25, and he looked fairly impassive. Just staring ahead in his car. There was no thumbs up. There were no waves. He drove out of the gates here for what now seems to be the final time.”
Lastly, the two reporters shared some theories on why did dismissal happened. In his time as an F1 Team Principal for Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner was accused of sexual misconduct with a female employee. While the charges were cleared two times by an external KC, the lingering disapproval could have caused this decision.
As Red Bull’s star driver, Max Verstappen, is reportedly in talks with Mercedes after his disappointing 2025 season, the dismissal might also come from the lack of results.
