Martin Brundle shares how Christian Horner really felt about missing the Belgian Grand Prix after Red Bull exit

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For the first time in Red Bull Racing’s history, the team took part in a Formula 1 weekend without Christian Horner at the helm.

The Belgian Grand Prix saw new team principal Laurent Mekies briefly have a 100% winning record in charge of Red Bull.

Max Verstappen got the better of Oscar Piastri on the opening lap of the Sprint Race on Saturday and held on to take a magnificent victory.

He was faultless for 15 laps as Piastri couldn’t find a way past his Red Bull at one of Formula 1’s most historic tracks.

Sunday’s race was a different matter, as Verstappen could only finish fourth, and a strategy error cost Yuki Tsunoda points that he desperately needed.

Nico Rosberg saw a change in Tsunoda at Spa that suggests that Mekies is already having a positive impact on the team.

Mekies came on the team radio to speak to Verstappen after the race in a similar manner to Christian Horner, but there are going to be plenty of changes without the 51-year-old in charge.

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Martin Brundle says Christian Horner is a ‘very sad man’ after missing the Belgian Grand Prix

Commentator and former driver Martin Brundle was asked about Horner’s Red Bull exit on Sky Sports F1 (27/7 1:06 pm).

Brundle contacted Horner straight after his dismissal was announced, and asked about him leaving Red Bull, he said: “He’s a very sad man, Christian, about it, you can imagine with the success that he’s had and the team he’s grown from one unit on an industrial estate with a lot of mezzanines into the campus that it is now, and the incredible number of victories and championships.

“But he wanted to keep control of the overall picture, and the Austrian bosses didn’t want him to.

“They wanted to take away commercial aspects of it, Christian felt that it was all the same thing, if you’re going to hire drivers, people, cost cap restrictions, deal with sponsors as I would call them at the race track, you want to be in charge of all of that as the kingpin, and I think that was what it all boiled down to.

“It’s all rather summery and the timing is bizarre, mid-season, you think it might be something done over the close season in the winter.

“It is what it is, Christian will… this is a very fast-moving business, he will be back on the train somewhere.”

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Laurent Mekies talking to Mercedes in a move that Christian Horner wouldn’t have done

Mekies is going to have to make Red Bull his own, even if the team’s chiefs will start to take some of the responsibilities he inherited from Horner away from him.

It’s unlikely that he would have been given the job if he had wanted the same level of control as Horner, but a more focused team principal might be just what Verstappen and, particularly, Tsunoda need.

Mekies went to visit Toto Wolff at Mercedes during the race weekend on a pre-planned visit.

This isn’t something Horner would have likely done given his at times strained relationship with the Mercedes boss.

However, it might be a sign that things are already changing at Red Bull with Horner now gone.

Horner has already been linked with a return to F1, either with new team Cadillac or as a potential part-owner of Alpine.

As Brundle suggested, it’s hard to imagine he will be gone for long after more than two decades as an ever-present in the paddock.