Former F1 supremo Ecclestone hits out at Red Bull after Horner's shocking dismissal

10:13, 10 Jul

Updated: 10:16, 10 Jul

Co-author:Tobia Elia

byTim Kraaij

Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone doesn’t understand why Christian Horner was fired and particularly how Red Bull handled the announcement.

On Tuesday morning, it was announced that Christian Horner had been dismissed as team principal and CEO of Red Bull Racing, with Laurent Mekies named as his immediate replacement.

Bernie Ecclestone, speaking to RacingNews365, found the team’s way of communicating the news unusual: "It must be something very serious, in my opinion. I spoke to him the day before and he didn't know. Well, he might have known, but he didn't tell me.''

"It was a normal conversation. We were talking about Max (Verstappen). Nothing to do with this, otherwise he would have told me."

"All I know is the message the whole world has got, which is, he's been fired, effective immediately," the English businessman added.

"It's the effective immediately I don't understand. Why would they ask him to leave with immediate effect? It's like he's murdered somebody.''

''You can understand, if you're going to fire somebody, then you'd have a chat before and you'd come out with something like, 'We've agreed to part company', or something. But to come out and say, 'You're fired with immediate effect', he must have done something a bit drastic for that to happen.''

Why was Horner fired by Red Bull?

Red Bull did not disclose why Christian Horner was pushed aside in their communication. However, the pressure on Horner had significantly increased in the recent weeks due to the team's poorer performance and lingering unrest. Mainly due to the ongoing investigation for misconduct allegations against Horner.

Pressure was also mounting from Max Verstappen's camp to step up action against Christian Horner. GPblog learned from the camp that Horner’s departure, or at least a redefinition of his role, was a key condition for Verstappen to stay with Red Bull. However, Horner’s dismissal does not necessarily mean that Verstappen will stay with Red Bull.