Martin Brundle admits he is “quite sad” after Christian Horner was sacked by Red Bull on Wednesday morning.
The Red Bull F1 boss was relieved of his duties in a shock announcement, ending his 20-year tenure in charge of the team, and a year on from being embroiled in a scandal involving a female colleague.
Former F1 racer and Sky Sports pundit Brundle gave his immediate reaction to his “friend” Horner being removed from his post.
“It is not completely out of the blue, given the problems in the team. I’m quite sad about it. I consider Christian a friend and he’s done an incredible job for 20 years,” Brundle told Sky Sports News.
“He’s won an awful lot of races and World Championships for driver and the team. He took it from what was the Stewart team and Jaguar, into a massive campus in Milton Keynes and an awful lot of success and a huge trophy cabinet.
“It’s not too difficult to feel in the F1 paddock and to observe and hear that things were not particularly rosy.”
Brundle also revealed that Horner has not been given a clear reason as to why he has been sacked by Red Bull’s parent company.
“I believe it’s probably performance-related as well,” Brundle said, when asked about the reasoning behind the decision. “I think it perhaps makes it more likely that the Verstappens (Max and Jos) will stay there, that became quite personal.
“There are a number of aspects. The car is struggling, but they’ve won races brilliantly this year.
“I’m due to speak to Christan later in the day, I said ‘can I have a chat?’ And he wasn’t able to do that. No reason was given to him as to why he’s been released. That’s the only hard info on that.
“Nothing’s forever, things move on.”
However, Brundle does believe that the sacking makes Max Verstappen more likely to stay at Red Bull for next season. The four-time world champion has been heavily linked with a move to Mercedes in recent weeks, with Verstappen’s father, Jos, known to want Horner to leave his job for at least a year.
“It remains to be seen, every point Max has through his own genius driving is in a Red Bull car,” Brundle said.
“They’re debuting their own engine for the first time next year, which is going to be the biggest change in Formula 1 history. We know that Max has an exit clause based on where he is in the world championship at the end of this month.
“I can only surmise it means it’s more likely he stays at this moment.”
