Red Bull have now scrubbed Christian Horner quote off the wall of their Formula 1 factory

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Red Bull have removed numerous references to former team principal Christian Horner from their F1 factory, according to a report.

Horner was sacked last July after running the team for 20 years. During his tenure, they won 124 races, four drivers’ titles and four constructors’ championships.

Despite that success, Horner became an increasingly divisive figure within the team before he was dismissed. He lost the backing of their Austrian ownership and also clashed with Jos Verstappen, father of the team’s superstar driver Max.

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Red Bull remove several Christian Horner photos from their F1 factory

The Telegraph’s Tom Cary was recently invited to the Red Bull factory, and he reports that Horner is ‘conspicuous by his absence’. He only saw one photo of the former team boss.

A source at the team told him that photos of the Briton had been removed from the main building at the Milton Keynes facility.

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

Horner once said that working for Red Bull ‘is not just a job, it’s a way of life’, a quote that was printed on the wall of Red Bull’s event space. This has now been removed.

A picture of four-time world champion Verstappen has been put up in its place. It’s unclear who issued this directive.

What Christian Horner loyalists at Red Bull are saying

This is a difficult issue for the team to handle. They don’t want to airbrush Horner’s contribution to their success, but equally, it’s important that they move on, so as not to undermine Laurent Mekies.

While several Horner loyalists left the team last year, either in the immediate aftermath of his sacking or in the months that followed, a group of them still remain.

• READ MORE: Ferrari personnel have ‘admired’ Christian Horner ‘for years’ amid F1 return rumours

Indeed, one member of Red Bull Powertrains told The Telegraph that Horner deserved ‘all the credit’ for the success of the brand-new engine department.

RBPT have built what appears to be the second-best engine in F1 on their first attempt. The team have struggled at the start of F1’s new era, but the chassis appears to be the problem in this regard.