Former Formula 1 boss
Emotional images: Horner comforted after Red Bull exit
02/27/2026 – 8:44 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
In the summer of 2025, Christian Horner was fired as team boss of Red Bull. New recordings now show his emotional reaction.
For 20 years, Christian Horner was the face of the Red Bull Formula 1 team as team boss. As a result of internal allegations and a power struggle, the Briton was dismissed in the summer of 2025. The new season of the documentary series “Drive to Survive” now shows his emotional reaction to the separation.
In the relevant scene, Horner breaks the news to his wife. “Everything is wrapped up,” he reports after kissing Geri Halliwell-Horner on the forehead. There is a moment of silence as they both sit down at a table before the Spice Girls singer hugs her husband.
Halliwell-Horner asks how he is doing now. “I never thought I would end up in this position,” replies the 52-year-old. Then he becomes clear: “Of course your immediate reaction when you’re served a shitty sandwich like that is something like: Fuck them.”
“Something was taken away” from him that “meant a lot” to him. “That wasn’t my decision,” complains Horner. Red Bull did not give any specific reasons for the separation, but the background is the allegations that were made against the then team boss in 2024. An employee accused him of inappropriate behavior, but Horner denied it and survived an internal investigation. As a result, he faced increasing headwind within the Red Bull team, especially from Helmut Marko and Jos Verstappen, father of F1 driver Max.
“His father was never my biggest fan,” Horner concludes in the documentary. “But I don’t think the Verstappens were in any way responsible for this. I think this decision was made by Oliver Mintzlaff, with Helmut Marko advising from the sidelines.”
Horner himself also cites the death of Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz. After his death, “things changed within the business. I was probably seen as having too much control.”
