Christian Horner ally 'shocked and saddened' after brutal Red Bull change

Red Bull's Paul Monaghan has expressed his "shock" and 'sadness' at the unexpected departure of Christian Horner.

After 20 years in charge, Horner was dismissed as team principal and CEO on July 9th, bringing to an end the reign of one of F1's most successful team bosses, with 124 wins from 405 races, and 14 combined world championship titles.

He has been replaced by Laurent Mekies, with Red Bull hoping to arrest an alarming drop in performance over the past 12 months. 

Monaghan joined Horner at Red Bull at the end of the team's first season in 2005, eventually rising to the position of chief engineer, and has expressed his surprise at the departure of his long-time team boss.

"I figured we might get into this topic," Monaghan began when asked by RacingNews365 for the impact of Horner's exit and how Mekies had settled in.

"I won't duck the truth, it was a shock to me, it is sad.

"Christian has put a large chunk of his working life into the team, and together as a team, we've achieved a huge amount of success, perhaps unwarranted to some views, but whatever, what is done is done.

"I want to say thank you to Christian for everything he did, personally for me, and for this team."

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Red Bull's new leader

Mekies has an extensive CV in senior positions in F1, having served as chief engineer at Toro Rosso, safety director and deputy race director at the FIA, deputy team principal at Ferrari before moving to Racing Bulls.

There, he was team principal, having joined ahead of its 2024 rebrand from AlphaTauri, and has an engineering background, as opposed to Horner's more global and political view.

Reflecting on how Mekies has settled in, Monaghan felt he was doing his "utmost" to pull the team together.

"Laurent has got quite a difficult situation to be dropped into," Monaghan continued.

"I've known him for many years, he's a very personable and smart chap, so it is up to us now to pull together because there are nine other teams who can't wait to fight us. 

"If we are going to stand up to them, we have to stand up as a team, and we are preparing to stand as a team. Laurent is doing his utmost to ensure that is what we're aiming to do, and we will do so."