Why Christian Horner once forced Max Verstappen to apologise to Red Bull staff after unacceptable Daniel Ricciardo clash

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The upcoming Belgian Grand Prix will mark the first time in 406 races that Red Bull will head into an event without Christian Horner as their team boss.

His shock sacking means that Laurent Mekies is the team’s second-ever boss. He now has a mega job to get them ready ahead of the 2026 F1 regulations.

Red Bull have been one of the most successful Formula 1 teams over the last two decades, but will now be led in a new direction.

Whether or not it’s enough to convince Max Verstappen to stay is another question. A move to Mercedes could be tempting.

Verstappen’s camp dismissed one Horner rumour as ‘nonsense’ and doubled down that they weren’t the architects of his departure.

Guenther Steiner has one doubt about Mercedes for 2026 and isn’t sure whether they will be guaranteed success with new regulations.

READ MORE: Red Bull are wrong about Max Verstappen’s 2025 title chances as ‘critical’ truth about McLaren emerges

Christian Horner once forced Max Verstappen to apologise to Red Bull staff after Daniel Ricciardo crash

Red Bull can ‘guarantee’ Verstappen will stay by making sure that he remains in the top three of the drivers’ championship after the upcoming Belgian Grand Prix.

If not, the decision will be entirely his as to whether he wants to stay with the Milton Keynes-based outfit in the future.

The factory, who have failed to make a car fast enough to compete with McLaren in 2025, have known of the Dutchman for nine years since he joined the team in 2016.

In 2018, he was forced to pay them a visit alongside teammate Daniel Ricciardo to apologise after letting them down.

Team boss Horner was furious that they ‘screwed up’ by crashing into each other at the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

“They will be in the factory to apologise to all the staff prior to the Barcelona race,” he told Autosport. “Things get discussed behind closed doors, but the drivers at the end of the day drive for a team and they both recognise that they have screwed up today.

“They will be apologising to the team, and all members of the team, because it is a team sport and that seemed to get forgotten about.”

READ MORE: Christian Horner faced a ‘politically impossible’ scenario with Max Verstappen just before his Red Bull sacking

What happened to Max Verstappen after his Baku crash with Daniel Ricciardo in 2018?

Baku ended up being a bit of a turning point in Verstappen’s season in 2018, as he hit a hot patch of form thereafter.

He would visit the podium at four of his next five races and win in Austria. His next victory after that came near the end of the campaign in Mexico.

At the end of 2018, Ricciardo left, and the rest is history. In 2021, he claimed his first title, and he hasn’t looked back since.

Now Red Bull’s most successful driver of all time, losing him would be a big dent to their hopes for the future. He’s come a long way since joining them.