Rosberg sees 'in the making' Horner departure shrouded in mystery

15:50, 26 Jul

byNorberto Mujica

It's been over twoo weeks since Christian Horner was mysteriously fired from Red Bull Racing and former F1 champion Nico Rosberg has given his verdict on the vibe in a Horner-free paddock.

For Rosberg it is not even a question, after Horner's presence had been felt in the F1 paddock for over 20 years, his absence is felt by the german former champion.

"Christian Horner not being here anymore is unthinkable," he said to Sky Sports F1. "That's completely unreal."

The news took hold of the F1 world by storm and remains one of the major talking points in Formula One to date. An event that according to Rosberg, no one saw coming, even Red Bull Racing themselves.

"It was a big, big shock and surprise to everybody, including himself. He didn't see it coming at all, nor did anybody in the team."

'Horner's exit was a long time coming'

However, there were signs and rumblings that pointed to internal strife at Red Bull, so the move did not completely come from out of the blue, according to the German.

"But of course, it was a long time in the making," said Rosberg. In 2024 a major scandal involving Horner erupted.

From there on an exodus of key figures like Adrian Newey (Aston Martin) and Jonathan Wheatley (Sauber) ensued. Head of Strategy Will Courtenay (McLaren bound) is also set to depart the team in 2026.

"Coming on from last year from all the issues that he'd been having there, so I think this was just a result of that."

"But nobody really still knows 100 per cent what exactly happened," concluded Rosberg.

The German also commented on Max Verstappen's sprint win at Spa. You can read his comments here.

Helmut Marko breaks silence on Horner's exit

It has been theorised that the amount of power Horner had at Red Bull was too much in the parent company's eyes. Red Bull's chief advisor Helmut Marko seemed to suggest as much with the reduction of new team boss Laurent Mekies' functions focused solely on the operation of the team itself.

''Fortunately, we then brought Laurent Mekies from the family. He will be much more reduced in his area of responsibility, the main focus will be racing," said Marko as reported by the German branch of Sky.