Christian Horner’s ‘very difficult’ final radio message to Max Verstappen before Red Bull sacking

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Christian Horner’s last two races as Red Bull team principal were somewhat disastrous. The team picked up just 10 points from a possible 86.

At their home race in Austria, Red Bull lost a 77-race scoring streak after Kimi Antonelli dealt Max Verstappen terminal damage and Yuki Tsunoda struggled to last place.

And with Tsunoda repeating that result at the British Grand Prix, Verstappen could only manage fifth place. He’d started on pole but had to climb back up the order after an extremely rare spin.

Red Bull are far closer to the bottom of the constructors’ championship (153 points) than the leaders McLaren (288). They haven’t finished outside the top three since 2015.

Christian Horner saluted Max Verstappen’s ‘recovery’ drive in final Red Bull radio

Verstappen and Red Bull took a set-up gamble at Silverstone, stripping the downforce off their car. They went for maximum top speed, an approach that would usually be reserved for a track like Monza.

This paid off in qualifying as Verstappen showcased his extraordinary talent through the corners and pulled out a gap on the straights. But he was in trouble when the rain started falling on Sunday.

After he fought his way back into the top five following his spin on the safety-car restart, Horner acknowledged that his star driver was in a ‘very difficult’ position.

“Yeah good effort, good recovery Max as the track dried,” he said. “It was obviously very difficult for you out there in the wet. Good effort today.”

Verstappen replied: “Very tough, really difficult. Yesterday was alright with the grip, but today that was really difficult.”

These would prove to be his final radio messages, with Horner officially sacked as Red Bull team boss on Wednesday.

Max Verstappen’s instrumental role in Christian Horner losing Red Bull job

Horner will be replaced by Laurent Mekies, the Racing Bulls chief. This is an interim measure as the shareholders decide on a permanent successor.

Mekies, who’s previously worked with Tsunoda, will naturally have a chance to display his own credentials. But it’s unclear how much he can do to shape the team’s fortunes with 2025 development virtually complete.

More importantly for the team, they can now be more confident of keeping Verstappen. They’ve firmly chosen a side in the long-running dispute between Horner and his camp.

Indeed, Verstappen was instrumental in Horner’s exit, according to the latest reports, after using his potential move to Mercedes as leverage to engineer a seismic change.