Red Bull executives have decided to end their partnership with Christian Horner for the remainder of the 2025 season. Horner has been with the team for 20 years and while under his leadership, the team achieved eight drivers championships and six constructors championships. Just two years ago Red Bull where on top of the world winning 21 of the 22 races and being so dominant that it was never a question as to who would be standing on the top. So, how could Red Bull possibly end up in this miserable situation? Let’s take a look at some key events that have lead to the downfall of Red Bull Racing.
The first big event that signaled an end of an ERA for Red Bull was the departure of mastermind, Adrian Newey. Newey was the Chief Technical officer and he propelled Red Bull into becoming one of the most accomplished constructors in Formula One. With the combination of Newey’s wisdom to create the most advanced race cars ever, paired with the legendary drivers such as Vettel and Verstappen, Red Bull has won six constructors and eight drivers championships. So for an employee of this caliber to call it quits with the team that he had been with since 2006, it was a major loss to the Red Bull team. The reason why Newey left was because of his frustration with the team’s internal leadership and his discontent with the direction that Red Bull were heading. Newey felt like the politics in the team were shying away the main objective which is to win and become the best constructor on the grid. Horner’s allegation chaos also helped fuel the fire for Newey’s exit which we will get back to later.
The second big event has been the consistent changes in Red Bull’s second seat. After the 2024 season, Sergio Perez was replaced by rookie driver Liam Lawson due to Red Bull’s disappointment with Perez’s results. Everybody felt like this decison was the right call, until we all saw just how poorly Lawson and Tsunoda have performed in the car this year. At the time fans believed that Perez was the issue but now it has become crystal clear that Red Bull’s cars are almost impossible for second seat drivers to
handle. Red Bull are notorious for building their cars solely around Verstappen’s driving style which hinders his teammates ability since they have to adjust to a different form of racing. Then, if you add on intense oversteer and understeer traits in the car, imagine how difficult it is for a rookie to succeed right away. Red Bull are practically a one driver team because of the 172 points that they have scored, Verstappen makes up 165 of those points. The issue with this situation is that if Verstappen were to leave, Red Bull would score hardly any points and their concept of the car would be irrelevant since Verstappen isn’t even on the team anymore.
The final event that I will discuss is the allegations that were brought upon Christian Horner last year in February. During the heat of the F1 season, a female employee at Red Bull accused Horner of misconduct which sent the team into a downwards spiral.
Horner was fighting to keep his reputation and respect with his colleagues all the while trying to do his job and help the team win races and remain competitive. This atmosphere was absolutely detrimental as a sense of discomfort and awkwardness took over the Red Bull garage. This event resulted with Newey exiting the team and has also played a part in Horner’s exit. The final straw that will send Red Bull over the edge will be if Verstappen leaves which will cause absolute havoc in the Red Bull department.