Martin Brundle pinpoints the moment the ‘wheels started to come off’ for Christian Horner at Red Bull

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Christian Horner said goodbye to his Red Bull Racing colleagues at their Milton Keynes factory on Wednesday.

David Croft saw Horner leaving the factory after his role as team principal came to an end after 20 years.

Red Bull decided after the British Grand Prix that the team needed to go in a different direction after such a long time under Christian Horner’s tenure.

Laurent Mekies has been brought in as Horner’s replacement, with Alan Permane promoted into his role at Racing Bulls ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.

Red Bull sit fourth in the constructors’ championship and have relied almost exclusively on Max Verstappen to score their points.

Yuki Tsunoda has faltered on the other side of the garage, and is the latest driver to struggle alongside Verstappen.

Reflecting on Red Bull’s history with Horner in charge, Martin Brundle believes he has pinpointed the moment that the 51-year-old started to lose his grasp on the Anglo-Austrian team.

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Martin Brundle thinks Dietrich Mateschitz was pivotal to Christian Horner’s eventual Red Bull exit

Brundle was talking on The F1 Show about the different jobs different team principals on the grid do now and explained: “We’ve got a division of the responsibilities because the teams have become so big, but along the way Christian, he’s created a bit of trouble along the way in terms of he’s often had plenty to say and poking, but that’s his job.

“You’ve got to slow the opposition down and speed your team up.

“But I can’t help but think the wheels started to come off when the Dietrich Mateschitz died, and to all intents and purposes, I think he’s been a passenger as well since Bahrain last year, when that news came out, and the tail’s been wagging the dog a bit.

Obviously, Team Verstappen have been briefing certain journalists, and Christian’s just come more under pressure and he lost key people like Adrian Newey, like Rob Marshall, like Jonathan Wheatley.

“I think his failing on that was convincing himself and trying to convince everybody else that they weren’t really doing that much anymore, and it really didn’t matter, he’d got a better crew behind him, but that wasn’t correct.

“But let’s remember, this is a team that was on pole position last weekend in Silverstone, one of the toughest circuits in the world and have won two Grand Prix this year.

“It’s not exactly like it’s been a disaster and then completely non-performed, but I think there were too many things working against him, and I think eventually he had a lot of support from Chalerm Yoovidhya, and I think eventually that’s faded away, and the inevitable has happened.”

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Christian Horner lost the backing of Red Bull’s Thai owners before exit

Horner had more power at Red Bull than almost any other team principal in the paddock.

Only Toto Wolff at Mercedes could argue to be in a stronger position, given that he part-owns the team.

There was a split between Red Bull’s Austrian and Thai owners over Horner, with Chalerm Yoovidhya his main backer within the company for some time.

However, Yoovidhya lost faith in Horner after attending the Austrian Grand Prix, as he saw Verstappen qualify seventh and Tsunoda 18th, before both drivers missed out on scoring points.

Every team in the paddock is approaching a crossroads, with potential driver decisions to make and new regulations on the horizon.

Arguably, Red Bull have the most to gain or lose, with doubts over Verstappen’s future, Tsunoda’s clinging onto his F1 career and a new power unit to build in the next six months.