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Ecclestone delivers sharp words for 'idiot' Horner who 'thought he was 20'

07:28, 11 Jul

byTobia Elia

After criticising Red Bull for its handling of the communication surrounding Christian Horner’s unexpected dismissal, former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone also had a few sharp words for the now-former team principal of the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

After partly coming to his defence by criticising the way Red Bull handled the whole situation, Bernie Ecclestone believes that Christian Horner also bears some responsibility — particularly regarding the sex scandal that engulfed him at the start of last season in Bahrain, and which will see him face trial against the Milton Keynes team employee in January 2026.

The Leamington Spa-born manager has always denied any involvement in the matter and firmly rejected all accusations. He was cleared twice and managed to keep his position thanks to the backing of the Thai ownership.

Christian Horner and Bernie Ecclestone

Horner behaved like 'an idiot' according to Ecclestone

“This other business that he got involved with 18 months ago, he was just an idiot,” the former F1 supremo said about Horner via The Telegraph.

“He was a 50-year-old who thought he was 20, thought he was one of the boys,” he added later with his trademark cynicism — despite still considering Horner a friend.

“I often wonder, when these situations happen, why if the girl is so upset with the advances of someone, they don’t just say, ‘Oi you, stop it.’”

As for Red Bull, Ecclestone believes that “It would probably have been better if they had said, ‘Come in, Christian, sit dow''. But the bottom line is that there are people there who thought he was getting away with things, that he was acting as if it was not the Red Bull Ring, but the Christian Horner Ring.''

''He got away with so many things. And all the time you’re delivering, people close their eyes. But when you stop delivering, people start looking. One or two begin thinking, ‘Well, I could do a better job.’”

Finally, speaking about the internal power struggles that ended up splitting the team into two clearly defined factions, the British businessman concluded: “Christian was the chief executive. If I’m the chief executive of a company, I want to be in charge.''

''I want to do all the things that I think are right, and if I’m wrong, they can fire me, they can say, ‘Sorry, bye-bye, you made a few mistakes.’ So, the minute Christian can’t be in that position to do what he thinks should be done, then for him it’s not easy. You can’t half-manage something. You need to have someone, I always say, to turn the lights on and off. You only really need one person.”

“I know it was suggested to him he should be a team manager and leave the commercial side to somebody else. But his idea was, ‘I am the chief executive.’”