F1 Insider credits Max Verstappen's camp with Christian Horner's Red Bull exit

Martin Brundle has given the Max Verstappen camp a verdict on the shocking sacking of Christian Horner from the Red Bull Formula 1 team. The Brit was relieved of his duties as team principal on July 9, 2025, and has since been replaced by Laurent Mekies.

Over the last 18 months, things were not smooth-sailing within the Milton Keynes-based team as various kinds of things happened. In the ongoing 2025 Formula 1 season, the RB21 had not been performing at expected levels under Christian Horner's leadership, and amid an array of factors, he was eventually sacked by Red Bull.

When the news initially broke out in July, various kinds of theories were put out on the web, and with the dust now being somewhat settled, Martin Brundle has come up with a 'Verstappen camp' verdict around the Horner sacking.

Via his Sky Sports Column, he has written the following:

"Max will go into the summer break in third place in the championship and so any team performance contract exit clause falls away. But Red Bull wouldn’t have played the Christian card without Team Verstappen being fully onboard anyway."

Max Verstappen has been a big player within the Red Bull setup for a long time. He is the one who has handed the team four drivers' championships in the last four years, and the car is mainly developed around him. Moreover, there is also the factor of Verstappen's dad, Jos Verstappen. He and Christian Horner were known for not getting along in the paddock.

Max Verstappen insists on 'learning things' from RB21 despite tough 2025 campaign

Max Verstappen - Source: Getty

While Martin Brundle has shared a fascinating take on Christian Horner's sacking and Max Verstappen's camp's role in it, the latter is not having the best of times (as indicated above) in the 2025 season.

After the first 13 rounds, he is in third place in the drivers' standings but is way behind the leading McLaren duo of Lando Norris (P2) and Oscar Piastri (P1). Verstappen has so far amassed 185 points in comparison to Norris' 250 and Piastri's 266.

In line with this, the Dutchman was asked by Racingnews365 whether Red Bull should shift focus toward the 2026 car. He added:

"No, I think it is still important also this year to learn certain thing. Because they will also have an effect on next year, the cars will be completely different, but there are still things we can work on and take to next year. So, of course, engineering and car design are on next year, but we can still learn a lot about this year."

In the ongoing 2025 Formula 1 season, there are still 11 Grand Prix events remaining on the race calendar.