Red Bull axed Christian Horner after 20 years as team principal and chief executive of the F1 team last week, meaning the Belgian Grand Prix is the first event he has missed in 406 races
Axed Formula 1 team boss Christian Horner took to social media to show fans what he was up to on the first race Sunday since he was dismissed. A tongue-in-cheek post on his Instagram story showed the 51-year-old was not just sitting around watching the F1 action.
Horner was in charge of Red Bull Racing for 20 years, having taken over before the team’s debut on the grid in 2005. And he famously never failed to travel for a single race during that period, but is not at Spa-Francorchamps for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.
For the first time in 406 F1 races, Horner has had to make alternative plans. A lover of horses as well as motor racing, he decided to explore his other passion having had the leadership of the Red Bull team taken away from him without warning.
A video posted on his account shows Horner riding a horse along a country lane, and then an image of him posing atop his steed in front of a barn. He poked fun at his situation with a light-hearted caption, which read: “Different horse power this Sunday.”
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Horner was replaced at Red Bull by Laurent Mekies, who stepped up from his previous role as team principal at sister squad Racing Bulls. The Frenchman got off to an ideal start on Saturday as Max Verstappen won the Sprint race in Belgium.
While he holds both the team principal and chief executive titles, Mekies will have much less power than Horner previously did at the team. Adviser Helmut Marko confirmed as much when he said: “We were able to bring Laurent Mekies into the family. His responsibilities will be significantly reduced, with the main focus being on racing.”
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Mekies knows that his first big job as Red Bull Racing boss is to ensure that the team keeps hold of its star driver for as long as possible. Intense speculation has suggested Verstappen could quit for rivals Mercedes by exercising a release clause in his current contract, which expires in 2028.
It is understood that Verstappen is likely to stick with Red Bull for now, rather than leave ahead of the 2026 season. But Mekies is fully aware that the Dutchman is likely to go wherever the quickest car available is so he can add to his four F1 titles so far.
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“I’m sure Max wants a fast car and if we get him a fast car, I’m sure it’s cancelling out all the other considerations,” he said in his first press conference as Red Bull boss at Spa-Francorchamps on Friday.
“So really the focus is very much to try to get to know the team as quickly as possible in order to see how we can support, how we can build the next step of competitiveness in order to get a fast car and hence to make it an easy call for Max.”