Max Verstappen has made his feelings clear on Christian Horner as Red Bull boss sacked

Max Verstappen has already made his feelings clear on Christian Horner after the Red Bull team boss was sacked.

On Wednesday morning, the Formula 1 world was shaken to its core after shock reports emerged claiming Horner has been sacked by Red Bull after over 20 years of service.

It was then confirmed in a statement that the 51-year-old has been replaced at Red Bull by Laurent Mekies, who was the team principal at sister team Visa Cash App Racing Bulls.

Red Bull managing director Oliver Mintzlaff said: "We would like to thank Christian Horner for his exceptional work over the last 20 years.

"With his tireless commitment, experience, expertise and innovative thinking, he has been instrumental in establishing Red Bull Racing as one of the most successful and attractive teams in Formula 1. Thank you for everything, Christian, and you will forever remain an important part of our team history."

Horner's position has been questioned in the past but star driver Verstappen has always stood by the Englishman.

Speaking about Horner back in March 2024, Verstappen said, via The Independent: "When I look at how Christian operates within the team he has been an incredible boss so from the performance kind of things you can’t question that.

"I speak to Christian a lot and he is fully committed to the team. He is here for the performance, and of course he is a little bit distracted, but we just focus on performance and that is how we all work together."

While Verstappen is yet to comment on Horner's sacking, the Dutchman's manager, Raymond Vermeulen, did give a statement.

As reported by De Telegraaf, Vermeulen said: "We were informed in advance about this decision by RedBull management. It’s up to RedBull to expand on why they did this. We continue to focus on the sporting side and are looking for more performance so we can return to the top. In that sense, nothing changes."

Max Verstappen and Christian Horner. Image: Getty

According to a report by ESPN, the atmosphere within the Red Bull team was becoming tense.

The uncertainty over Verstappen's future and the team's poor start to the 2025 campaign only added fuel to the already growing fire.

It has been suggested that a series of meetings took place over the past two weekends.

The report stated that at least one of those meetings involved Verstappen and director Mintzlaff, with the latter pushing for a change of leadership.

Horner's final race for Red Bull came last weekend at Silverstone, where Verstappen finished fifth and Yuki Tsunoda came home last.

During his time in charge, Horner led the team to six constructors' championships and eight drivers' world titles.