Horner gets painful kick while he's down (and out of Red Bull): 'You're crazy!'

15:09, 23 Jul

Updated: 21:49, 23 Jul

byNorberto Mujica

Christian Horner's active role in F1 has ceased, but the hits just keep on coming for the former Red Bull Racing team principal.

Red Bull's top brass bit the bullet and made the call: Horner was removed from his role as team principal effective immediatly a few weeks ago.

In an assessment carried out by former Jordan Grand Prix technical leader Gary Anderson, the Brit's approach to McLaren's resurgence was heavily criticised.

Late last season during the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend the reports first emerged: grumblings in the paddock aimed at McLaren's tyre management pointed to an illegal trick.

The rumours suggested that the Woking-based team were using water to keep their tyres' temperature down, hence enhancing not only the rubber's longevity, but also the time it could be maintained in the optimal operating window.

This season reports emerged that Red Bull had taken it upon themselves to conduct an investigation using thermal cameras that suggested McLaren were using something other than the airflow to cool its tyres, which is out of the technical regulations' bounds.

This prompted a comical response from the British team's CEO Zak Brown who later on urged the FIA to set a fee to go against any team lodging a complaint against a rival.

'McLaren gritted their teeth and learned, now they are the benchmark'

In The Race's Tech Show, Anderson recalled McLaren's 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix where the British team completed a rather disappointing outing marred by braking issues, with Oscar Piastri retiring his MCL60 and Lando Norris finishing P17 two laps down on eventual winner Max Verstappen.

"McLaren, a few years ago, had their brake problem at the first race of the season in Bahrain, where they could hardly do a lap.”

That setback, the Irishman believes put McLaren on a journey that would lead them to where they are today in terms of tyre management.

“And because of that, they had to step back a bit and, as a group, think about all this stuff, why did that happen, because that shouldn’t have happened.“

"And they’ve probably, as I say, got better kit now than anybody in looking at that, be it simulation or rigs. But, that’s helped them to keep the tyres more consistent as well."

McLaren have been the absolute benchmark in 2025, and teams point to their tyre efficiency.

Anderson judges Horner's approach: 'Are you crazy?'

In the end their learning phase, characterised by a rather tough period paid its dividends, believes Anderson.

"So longer term, they’ve taken the lessons, they’ve looked at what was wrong, looked in depth at how to fix it and actually used it maybe more beneficially than others have."

The former Jordan Grand Prix technical leader then set his sights on Red Bull Racing, and therefore on Horner's way of dealing with McLaren having the edge in that regard.

"But as I say, the other teams, you know, for example, Red Bull, they’re putting in 100 millilitres of water in each tyre to cool the tyre. I mean, why? Are they crazy?"

"It’s just wrong. That’s just wasting your effort, time and the whole bit, to be honest." he added. "So, yeah, look at yourself. Don’t necessarily look at everybody else,” Anderson concluded.