Martin Brundle reveals what Christian Horner has told him about Red Bull exit
Christian Horner remains in the dark about the reason why he was relieved of his duties at Red Bull Racing. That's according to Martin Brundle who said he has exchanged messages with the famous Formula 1 chief since next broke of his exit from the team.
Horner had served as the first and only team principal of Red Bull's top outfit in F1 since the energy drinks giant bought out Jaguar F1 in November 2004. But that long era came to an end on Wednesday when it was announced that he would no longer serve Red Bull as chief executive and team principal.
He was seen driving out of the team's Milton Keynes base shortly before 11.30am, after being informed of his fate. And, speaking on Sky Sports, Brundle said he had been in touch with Horner who had suggested he was not given a specific reason why the change has been made.
The Sky Sports broadcaster said: "I said to him, 'Can we have a chat before I have to go on TV', because I want to know more about it from his point of view, and he wasn't able to do that. What he did say to me was no reason was given to him as to why he's been released."
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Horner is not the only senior figure understood to have left their roles. Director of communications and social media Paul Smith and group chief marketing and commercial officer Oliver Hughes are also said to have departed. Smith in particular was one of Horner's closest allies within the team, also serving as something of a personal PR representative of the team boss.
Brundle said he was "quite sad" to hear of the news, adding: "I consider Christian a friend, and he's done an incredible job there for 20 years. Won an awful lot of races and World championships for drivers and for the team.
"He took it from what was the Stewart team through Jaguar, and it was struggling, to a massive campus in Milton Keynes, and an awful lot of success and a huge trophy cabinet. But it's not been difficult to feel in the Formula 1 paddock, and to observe and to hear that things were not particularly rosy.
"I believe it's probably performance-related as well. I think perhaps it makes it more likely that the Verstappens will stay there. I think that became quite personal, in some called it, 'Team Verstappen'. So I think there are a number of aspects, but particularly that the car is struggling. Although, they've won races this year, of course, they've won races brilliantly this year."
Laurent Mekies will take over as chief executive of Red Bull Racing, moved over from his previous role as team principal at junior outfit Racing Bulls. "Nothing is forever. Things move on, and Red Bull have already put in place significant changes," Brundle added.
"Laurent Mekies comes over from Racing Bulls, their junior team, sister team. Alan Permane takes over the reins there. They've very quickly put into place solutions. They're debuting their own engine for the first time next year, in what is going to be the biggest change in Formula 1 history of car and power unit at the same time. Christian has been in the seat and driving that aspect of the team along completely."
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