Christian Horner pulls back the curtain on the rise of intra-team disturbance at Red Bull after Dietrich Mateschitz’s death
Christian Horner was sacked by Red Bull in what was a turbulent time for the team. The former Team Principal revealed how Dietrich Mateschitz’s death led to intra-team disturbance within the Milton Keynes outfit. Horner also detailed the various factors that led to it.
Red Bull GmbH co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz passed away in October 2022. The F1 team was a project close to his heart as he had a lifelong passion for motorsports. However, after Mateschitz’s death, reports of instability with Red Bull started circling the paddock.
These included reports of a power struggle between Horner and Marko. The Austrian corporate side, including the CEO Oliver Mintzlaff, wanted to change how the team operated. Christian Horner detailed that the intra-team disturbance had already kicked in.
“I think where it started to get a little bit messy was as I say after Dietrich passed,” said Horner
“Dietrich was an iconic leader. He was you know he was Red Bull and um you know when such a big and strong personality departs, it leaves a void and he was a great guy. He was tremendously loyal to the people around him just so passionate about motorsport sport,” he added
“When he went it then leaves a void and that void was filled by a more sort of democratic structure of three CEOs. Formula 1 always sat very much outside of the Red Bull corporate group. Dietrich always said, ‘Don’t get involved in the can business. It’ll just slow you down.’ But more and more we were being pulled into those machinations. And of course, I was pushing against that because I wanted to retain the team’s independence,” continued Christian Horner
Christian Horner on not being able to enjoy Red Bull’s success after Dietrich Mateschitz’s death
Red Bull had their most successful year in F1 in 2023 when they won all but one race. Christian Horner on the Up to Speed podcast detailed how he wasn’t able to enjoy the success because of the growing tension within the team. He said,
“We were literally on top of the world, and I remember Geri [Horner’s wife] saying to me, you know, it’s like you’ve reached the top of the mountain and realize there’s nothing there because, you know, there was so much growing tension and dynamics within the ecosystem that you weren’t able to enjoy those results.
“And actually what we were doing was creating anything to be measured against that was deemed as failure. And so things changed,” added Horner
Horner was fired by Red Bull in July 2025 amid a reported power struggle within the team. Adrian Newey had already left the team earlier. Helmut Marko also retired after the 2025 season.
