Martin Brundle thinks he knows the mystery reason Red Bull sacked Christian Horner

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Christian Horner was sacked by Red Bull over a fortnight ago. But the team still haven’t officially communicated the reason for their decision.

Red Bull are fourth in the constructors’ championship at the halfway point of the season. If that holds, it would be their lowest position for a decade.

But Horner has survived disappointing seasons before, and Red Bull are the only team other than McLaren to win multiple Grands Prix in 2025. That suggests the motivations weren’t solely sporting.

As reported by ESPN, the ‘rank-and-file’ at Red Bull haven’t received an explanation. There is growing pressure on the leadership in Austria to answer the biggest question – ‘why now?’.

Christian Horner didn’t want to ‘let go’ of commercial control

Speaking before FP1 at the Belgian Grand Prix, Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle rejected any notion that Max Verstappen was instrumental in Horner’s exit. There have been suggestions that Verstappen threatened to leave Red Bull unless there was a change of regime.

While Brundle thinks the four-time world champion could have saved Horner, he’s spoken to Jos Verstappen and learned the truth of the situation. The former team principal apparently resisted pressure to relinquish commercial control.

Speaking in a press conference at Silverstone, Horner said Red Bull didn’t need to change their structure. He felt it made sense for one individual to oversee the entire operation.

“It wasn’t about the Verstappens, it was the management in Austria wanting to take back control of the commercial side of it,” Brundle said. “Christian didn’t want to let that go, because he felt the drivers, the cost cap, the sponsors, the employment of people was all one big story that he wanted to keep hold of.

“And so, they made that decision. Presumably, Max could have – if he’d have wanted to – stopped it from happening. He either chose not to, or couldn’t. I’m going to assume he chose not to stop Christian from being let go.”

Brundle describes Horner as a friend, and spoke to him immediately after the announcement earlier this month.

Martin Brundle delivers the news all Red Bull fans wanted to hear

It’s believed that Jos Verstappen has been restrained in his reaction to Horner’s departure. There was a long-running feud between the two.

While he was clearly emotional in his farewell speech and had no intention of leaving in the short to medium-term, Horner is in line for a £110m pay-off, because his contract runs until the end of 2030.

This won’t impact Red Bull’s ability to keep Verstappen, even though they’ll also be paying new boss Laurent Mekies. Mekies has taken on a reduced role as part of a new model.

In an immediate boost for the new man, Brundle is now certain that Verstappen will stay at Red Bull. The story may settle down for now, but could return if the Milton Keynes outfit struggle in 2026.