Adrian Newey was right all along about Red Bull’s biggest problem and Christian Horner sacking proves it

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Christian Horner saw several of Red Bull’s most influential figures depart the team in the year leading up to his sacking. In retrospect, perhaps that was a sign of what was to come.

Adrian Newey was the first big name to go, handing in his resignation last Spring. The legendary designer landed at Aston Martin, who will hope to overtake Red Bull in the next rule cycle.

A few months later, sporting director Jonathan Wheatley announced that he’d be joining Sauber. While new owners Audi offered him the chance to become team principal, this was still a damaging loss.

Soon after, head of strategy Will Courtenay was poached by McLaren. Courtenay has remained with the team for 2025 as he sees out his contract, but will leave another void on the pit wall that must be filled.

Adrian Newey warned that Red Bull were going ‘stale’ after he left

Newey left Red Bull for multiple reasons. There was a genuine desire for a new challenge after nearly two decades in Milton Keynes, where he’d won eight constructors’ championships.

But Newey’s relationship with Horner also suffered, partly because the engineer felt he wasn’t getting enough credit for the team’s success. Speaking on the High Performance Podcast last year, he hinted that the team was becoming ‘a little bit stale’ 20 years into the same regime.

Based on Red Bull’s trajectory since – they have won only two races in 2025 and are on course for their worst championship position in 10 years – these concerns were justified. Newey seemed to sense that a refresh was required.

“The team’s reached a good level of maturity,” he said. “It’s a very mature engineering organisation, as well as the rest of the team. In a way, I’ve done my bit. I started to feel as if we were going a little bit stale.

“The guys also felt as if that they needed to show that they could do it on their own. Let’s give them the chance and give myself a new challenge.”

Flavio Briatore’s message to ‘great friend’ Christian Horner after Red Bull axe

Horner was a divisive figure within the F1 paddock. That means reactions to his departure will be split.

Indeed, Horner had a feud with McLaren boss Zak Brown, as well as Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff. He often preferred to fight his team’s corner rather than defuse a situation.

One of his allies was Flavio Briatore, who’s currently calling the shots at Alpine. Briatore sent a sincere message to Horner on social media, saluting his ‘great friend’ on ’20 years at the top’.

Horner and Newey were a formidable duo at Red Bull, but the former’s record suffered when they were separated. The latter has already won titles with three different teams and may have arrived at Aston Martin with a slight chip on his shoulder.