Former FIA steward not surprised Red Bull fired Christian Horner

Former FIA steward Johnny Herbert has admitted that he wasn't really surprised by Christian Horner being sacked by Red Bull, especially since the scandal kicked off last season. The 51-year-old Brit was one of the founding members of the F1 team, as he was the first team principal hired by Dietrich Mateschitz and Helmut Marko.

Throughout the team's two-decade-long stay in F1, Horner has been at the front, right, and center of what Red Bull is. He was pivotal in bringing Adrian Newey onboard and in keeping the star designer on the team even when he lost motivation in the early turbo hybrid era.

After the team's peak in 2023, when Red Bull won every race but one, nobody would have thought that the Austrian team would get dethroned so soon. The 18 months since have seen the entire team get completely dismantled.

Key members have left, and all of a sudden the board decided that it was time for Christian Horner to leave with immediate effect. Throughout all of this, Max Verstappen has also been aligning himself for a move away from the team as the performances continue to dip.

The news of Christian Horner being fired was a shocker for a lot of people, but by the looks of it, it wasn't for Johnny Herbert. He told Racingnews365:

"And when it doesn't go away, it's never a good thing to have that sort of thing hanging around your neck. But there's also, is it anything to do with Max? Because, obviously, Jos was very vocal, and not wanting Christian about. Potentially, I suppose it could be that."

He added:

"It sounds very much so, that the Mercedes thing is where he's probably going to end up. So, it's probably not a surprise everything with Christian anyway."

Red Bull post-Christian Horner prepared for a difficult period

Red Bull's future will see Laurent Mekies take over the role of Christian Horner as the CEO and team principal. Looking ahead to the future of the Austrian team, Herbert felt that the team was in for a difficult period, as he said:

"Now, it's going to be a really difficult period for them [Red Bull], because obviously, with all the changes, with Jonathan [Wheatley] and Adrian [Newey] and a few other people, and of course, with Christian as well."

He added:

"It's in a very precarious position at the moment, because, like anything in Formula 1, you've got to be able to have the right ingredients, which includes personnel, direction, and that's all been slowly, sort of eroded away."

Red Bull is currently fourth in the championship, with Max Verstappen third in the drivers' standings. With a pillar of the team gone, it will be interesting to see how it performs in the next 18 months.