Jonathan Wheatley made a ‘quite telling’ Christian Horner comment at the British Grand Prix before his Red Bull exit

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The Formula 1 world has been rocked by the news that Christian Horner has been sacked from his role as team principal.

The 51-year-old has been at the helm of one of F1’s most successful teams since it joined the grid in 2005, having led them to 124 wins, eight Drivers’ Championships and six Constructors’ Championships.

It follows several months of declining form for Red Bull, with the team slipping to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship and over 240 points behind rivals McLaren.

Their form on track in 2025 has often been dictated by Max Verstappen, while the second car has been through two drivers so far from the Red Bull Junior Academy, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, and seen no success.

It also follows several high-profile exits from Red Bull, including former Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley, who joined Sauber earlier this year.

Speaking to the media at the recent British Grand Prix, Wheatley made one ‘telling’ comment that pre-empted Horner’s exit, according to journalist Chris Medland when speaking on Sky Sports News.

Jonathan Wheatley left Red Bull after signs of decline

Since dominating the 2023 season, Red Bull has struggled on track and the 2025 season has been one of their worst since 2015.

Wheatley was one of the members of the team who left recently, which also included F1 design guru Adrian Newey and aerodynamicist Rob Marshall to rivals Aston Martin and McLaren respectively.

Discussing his exit from Red Bull with media, Wheatley admitted that Red Bull’s problems on track did play a part in his eventual exit.

“When I interviewed Wheatley fairly recently, he said ‘Did what was going on at Red Bull play a part [in leaving?], maybe a little bit’ and that was quite telling to me,” said Medland.

“That it felt like even those who were in core positions were wondering if times were changing, and it was time to move on, because maybe the recent dominant era was over.”

Red Bull now fighting to save Max Verstappen

Horner’s exit comes after rumours emerged that the Verstappen camp called for him to give up some of his responsibilities within the team.

They felt Horner was taking on too much and controlling a lot of the business, while it appears his sacking is to do with performance on track.

It’s no secret that Horner has been at loggerheads with Red Bull owner Mark Mateschitz, having been given support by their Thai majority owners, headed by Chalerm Yoovidhya.

But Red Bull’s Thai owners reportedly gave Horner a cold response when speaking in Austria, preceding this week’s news that he is now out of the team.