After the surprising end of Christian Horner as team boss and CEO of Red Bull Racing, according to the former Formula 1 pilot and today’s TV expert Martin Brundle, the chances increased that Max Verstappen will continue to drive for his previous team.
“It may make it more likely that the Verstappens, Jos and Max. The Briton refers to Verstappen’s previous successes in the Red Bull team: “Every point, every podium and every win that Max has achieved was in a Red Bull. He often said that he would like to end his career at Red Bull if possible.”
In addition, Brundle emphasized the importance of the upcoming technical upheavals in Formula 1: “Red Bull will launch its own drive for the first time next year – this will be the greatest change in the history of car and drive in Formula 1.”
Horner was largely involved in this project. At the same time, Verstappen has an exit clause that is bound to its position in the driver’s World Cup at the end of the month. Brundle therefore suspects: “Does that mean he goes or remains? I can only suspect that he would stay more.”
On July 9, 2025, Horner was replaced by Laurent Mekies with immediate effect, who was previously team boss at Racing Bulls. Red Bull did not give official reasons for the replacement of the long -standing team boss. However, after a phase of sporting problems and a public dealing with Max Verstappen’s father Jos.
Even before Horner’s departure, there had been rumors about a possible change to Mercedes. Her team boss Toto Wolff confirmed talks with the Dutch, but emphasized that a change in 2026 was rather unlikely – but he did not want to rule it out for the future.
Brundle said about Horner’s departure: “It doesn’t come out of the blue, given the problems in the team. I am quite sad about it. I consider Christian as a friend. He has done an incredible job for over 20 years.”
Horner was a formative figure of the team, according to the Sky expert: “He won a lot of races and world championships for drivers and teams. He made a huge campus in Milton Keynes from the former Stewart and later Jaguar team. But it was finally noticeable that it was not going well behind the scenes.”