Christian Horner Pokes Enjoyable At Missed Belgian GP After Abrupt Red Bull Exit

Former Red Bull Racing CEO and group principal Christian Horner has been having fun with a special form of “horse power” through the Belgian Grand Prix. Revealing his plans for race day, Horner shared a narrative on his Instagram account.

The story is a video of him driving a horse, captioned “Different horse power this Sunday.” The weekend marks Red Bull’s first race with out Horner, who was dropped from the group after the British Grand Prix.

Racing Bulls group principal Laurent Mekies has been promoted to fill Horner’s place at Red Bull, and the Belgian GP marks his first race with the Milton Keynes-based group.

While the rationale for Horner’s ousting has not been revealed, Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko has identified that efficiency issues led to his exit, and that the choice was taken by the managing director of Red Bull GmbH, Oliver Mintzlaff. Newsweek Sports reported his feedback:

“The decision was made by Oliver Mintzlaff. We informed Christian Horner of this on Tuesday in London after the Silverstone race, at the same time officially thanking him for these 20 years and for these eight World Championship titles.

“This was the results of numerous elements, however above all, the efficiency wasn’t fairly pretty much as good because it may have been.

“Fortunately, we were able to bring Laurent Mekies into the family. His responsibilities will be significantly reduced, with the main focus being on racing.”

Max Verstappen revealed that he was knowledgeable in regards to the determination to drop Horner a day earlier than the information broke, and hinted that the rationale for his exit shall be revealed. He stated:

“I have a good relationship with them, you know, so I think it’s quite normal that they inform some people in the team before it goes out. I think it’s a standard practice.

“I gave them my opinion. And I hold that to myself. And in the event that they need to say extra about it, they are going to do. And you’ll hear about it.”

Verstappen also revealed that Horner’s exit won’t make a difference to his future with Red Bull, referencing the last one and a half years under his leadership, during which the team struggled. He said:

“Now, I feel folks can have a distinction of opinion right here after which. And I really anticipate that to occur as a result of if everybody at all times agrees, there’s a drawback. You have to have distinction of opinions. And yeah, that is now one thing that we work with in a special course. I’m enthusiastic about it.

“Like you said, I don’t think it will matter at all for my decision in the future. And yet, the only thing that matters is that we work on the car and make it as fast as we can make it, really. And like I said, the last one and a half years have not been what we want to be. Now we try and be more competitive this year a little bit, but for sure also with the new regulations.”