Bernie Ecclestone delivers verdict on Christian Horner axe: 'It's like he's murdered somebody'

Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has been left stunned by the sudden departure of Christian Horner from his role as team principal of Red Bull Racing.

Ecclestone and Horner are long-time allies and friends, to such an extent, the latter was mooted as a potential replacement for the former before Liberty Media took over the sport in 2017.

Ecclestone has confirmed to RacingNews365 that he only spoke with Horner on Monday, and there was no mention made of any impending exit.

It underlines the speed the Red Bull board has acted in removing Horner from his positions, as he also served as CEO.

After expressing his sadness at Horner's exit, speaking to RacingNews365, Ecclestone said: "It must be something very serious, in my opinion.

"I spoke to him the day before [on Monday] 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."

In particular, Ecclestone could not understand why Horner has gone midway through the season.

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

"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.

"Let's assume they were unhappy with the results, which I can understand, that's one thing, but to be fired immediately, that's a different thing altogether."