The dismissal of Christian Horner as Red Bull team boss is unsurprisingly dominating sports media a day after the announcement. On Wednesday morning, Horner’s twenty-year tenure with the Austrian racing stable abruptly came to an end. The media in Great Britain, Horner’s home country, are delving into the potential reasons behind their compatriot’s departure.
“The end of an era that will certainly be felt on the Formula 1 grid,” headlines the British The Guardian about Christian Horner’s dismissal. The newspaper predicts that Red Bull is heading towards the ‘most turbulent period in their history’ with the departure of the team boss. “Red Bull, once a formidable force, is now left with a disappointing car, running the risk of losing their talisman (Max Verstappen, ed.). The team is on the eve of a new era without the man who had brought them so far and in a whirlpool of instability. As the once mighty Williams team discovered, success is never guaranteed in F1 and Red Bull can now consider themselves on the brink of the abyss.””The British broadcaster BBC immediately tries to find out why Horner had to pack his bags so suddenly. “It probably comes down to this. Results were getting worse. Experienced employees, who were vital to Red Bull’s success, had left. In addition, there was a series of questionable decisions, and the team risked damaging its reputation. And of course, there were question marks around their biggest asset,” the BBC refers to star driver Max Verstappen. “In such a situation, the future of any CEO of any company would not look bright. In the end, Red Bull probably had no more reasons to keep Horner.”
Power Struggle
Sky Sports, the broadcaster behind Formula 1 in the UK, attributes Horner’s dismissal to the departure of several prominent team members, including Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley, and the ongoing disappointing results. “It remains a big surprise, as this was a team that still won races this year. Christian Horner has definitely contributed to the team becoming what it is now,” writes reporter Craig Slater. “He built the team from a very small company. I think this is the ultimate end of the power struggle that has been clear in that team in recent years. In the end, Christian Horner lost that power struggle.”
