Will Buxton shares his honest opinion on Red Bull sacking Christian Horner

Will Buxton feels that Red Bull's sacking of Christian Horner is something that probably doesn't come as a surprise to many people, and some even feel that the call should have been made much earlier. The Austrian team shocked the F1 world when it announced that the team boss was being removed with immediate effect and would not be taking part in the operations of the team.

This came as a massive shock to many that have followed the sport, as Christian Horner is a name that has been synonymous with Red Bull for two decades. He was the team's first signing when Dietrich Mateschitz decided that he wanted an F1 team.

From that point onwards in 2005, Christian Horner has been involved in building Red Bull brick by brick at the Milton Keynes facility. The team went on to win the title in 2010 with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. It would then go on a 4-year dominant run that culminated in 2013.

After being blindsided a bit by the power unit supplier Renault's lack of commitment to F1, the team roared back into contention in 2021 when it broke a 7-year drought by winning the title with Max Verstappen.

The team hit an all-time high in 2023 when it won all but one race in the year, but from 2024 onwards it's been on a decline. The downturn was kicked off with Christian Horner being investigated for inappropriate behavior with a Red Bull colleague. This has coincided with many key personnel leaving the team, including Jonathan Wheatley and Adrian Newey.

With Max Verstappen also more or less now out of title contention, Red Bull has seemingly pulled the trigger on Christian Horner's future and decided that it was time for something different. Talking about the call, Will Buxton felt that there is a segment that feels the call could have been made even earlier. On the Fast and Curious podcast, he said,

"I mean, wild in terms of the impact and in terms of the magnitude of it and yet not wild when you think of the last 18 months. And I think for a lot of people, there would be the question of why this hasn't happened sooner and probably a lack of surprise that it has happened at all,”

He added,

"The big shock is Christian, for the longest time, has been Red Bull. He's the only team principal that team has ever known. He has led them through the good times, through the bad times for 20 years. So, it has to be more than a simple drop-off in performance. They've been there before. They've been through this before. So, there must be more. And there is more at play here. And I think that's obvious to everyone.”

Red Bull sacking Christian Horner based on a number of factors

Will Buxton felt that performance alone might not be a factor in the call that has been made. Red Bull has gone through a blip in performance in the past as well, in 2014, when the team was blindsided by a bad engine supplier. The team rebuilt through that phase with Christian Horner at the helm and won championships. This time around, though, he wasn't given the opportunity to rebuild. Buxton said,

"The fascinating thing with this is because it happened so soon, there's no official word about why this has happened. And so everybody is coming to, I think, the same conclusions, which is that there may be a number of factors in this."

Red Bull's future is now very uncertain as the team is going through a tough phase. The performance on the track is not there, and with Christian Horner not at the helm anymore, a completely new direction would be needed to put the whole unit together.