Christian Horner told Red Bull ‘you can go and sign Mike Krack’ when they tried to change his role

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Christian Horner was resistant to Red Bull turning him into another ‘Mike Krack’ before he lost his job, F1 journalist Nate Saunders says. Horner was sacked in July 2025 after losing the faith of the team’s ownership.

Horner had been with the team for over 20 years, overseeing eight title-winning seasons. Only Mercedes boss Toto Wolff could rival his level of influence.

The model is different at Aston Martin, where the team principal runs the race team but Lawrence Stroll is the face of the business. Stroll hired Krack for the role at the start of 2022 then made him chief trackside officer in 2025 so Andy Cowell could take the reins.

Christian Horner fought to retain total control at Red Bull

Speaking on The Race F1 podcast, Saunders explained that Red Bull wanted to reduce Horner’s responsibilities. At sister team Racing Bulls, Peter Bayer is the commercial chief, while Alan Permane is the team principal.

At the Austrian GP, Horner’s penultimate race in charge, Red Bull sports boss Oliver Mintzlaff tried to persuade him to relinquish commercial control. That reflected his ‘old-school’ approach.

F1 teams are moving away from the traditional model of one, dominant team principal. While Laurent Mekies has the same job title as Horner, he is an engineer who focuses on racing matters.

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“If you look at the undoing of Christian Horner, a lot of the root of that was the commercial desire of the Austrian side of Red Bull to really control that part of the business,” Saunders explained. “Peter Bayer does that for the junior team.

“It was the Austrian Grand Prix last year where Oliver Mintzlaff and the wider Red Bull company sat down with Horner and said, ‘You need to give up some of the commercial stuff.’

“Horner made a joke, ‘Well, you can go and sign Mike Krack if you want that kind of role.'”

“That was a really fascinating clash of the two mindsets and the shifting landscape, taking one of the old-school team bosses that did everything and saying, ‘We don’t need you to do everything, we’re happy to do the commercial side.'”

Christian Horner is asking Aston Martin and Alpine for something he didn’t have at Red Bull

After his confrontation with Red Bull, Horner is demanding even more control if he is to return to F1. First and foremost, he wants a stake in the team like Toto Wolff.

Aston Martin offered shares to Adrian Newey, but it’s difficult to see how Horner would fit in their current structure. He had disagreements about Newey before the designer left Red Bull, and would have to follow Stroll’s orders.

Likewise, Horner has been heavily linked with Alpine but that particular move would make more sense after Flavio Briatore, the link between owners Renault and the F1 division, has retired.

It may be that Horner’s best option is to set up his own team and effectively create his own job, but that will require massive backing from investors and approval from the existing teams.