Red Bull owners now worried that staff could ‘suddenly walk away’ due to Christian Horner clause in their contracts

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Christian Horner’s Red Bull exit was emotionally difficult for many of the team’s staff. He was, of course, the longest-serving team principal in the paddock after 20 years.

Whether or not they agree with the decision, some Red Bull staff feel Horner deserved better treatment. It’s been widely reported that he wasn’t given an explanation after he was sacked.

There was a sombre mood at Red Bull during the Belgian Grand Prix, the first race of the new Laurent Mekies regime. While this had begun to pass by the time the team arrived in Hungary, the fallout from Horner’s exit certainly hasn’t concluded.

Most importantly, Max Verstappen offered an express commitment in Budapest that he’d be racing for the team next year. But there could still be other impactful departures.

Some Red Bull staff are contractually tied to fired boss Christian Horner

According to journalist Joe Saward, writing in his ‘Green Notebook’, Red Bull were always confident Verstappen would stay. They were ‘more worried’ about losing behind-the-scenes staff.

Horner hasn’t officially left the Red Bull company yet – he’s simply been removed from the team principal/CEO post. Negotiations over a settlement package are ongoing (because he was still under contract), and it ‘will not be the work of a moment’.

• READ MORE: Red Bull may now have to pay Christian Horner over £110m to finalise exit as new details emerge after sacking

Saward has learned that numerous employees are contractually tied to Horner through clauses in their deals. There is a concern that all of those concerned can ‘suddenly walk away’ without needing to do ‘gardening leave’.

Previous reports had indicated that Red Bull feared a personnel haemorrhage, and this appears to be the mechanism through which the exodus could take place. Rival teams are already circling.

What many in the F1 paddock really thought of Red Bull under Christian Horner

The expectation at this stage is that Horner will work in F1 again. If and when he joins another team, he could theoretically target plenty of his old colleagues.

Control will be important to Horner, so he’s unlikely to join a team where there’s already a dominant leader in place. The idea of buying a stake in Alpine has been floated.

McLaren boss Zak Brown expects the world of F1 to be less political without Horner. But that absence is likely to be temporary.

Horner stoked ‘resentment’ inside the paddock with his ‘provocative one-liners’. This fed into the image that Red Bull were ‘arrogant’, though dominant enterprises often face such accusations.