Christian Horner branded 'aggressive, spiky' in shock Red Bull exit explanation

Christian Horner has been labelled as “aggressive” and “spiky” by a Sky F1 reporter following his exit from Red Bull.

Horner departed the Milton Keynes-based squad just days after the British Grand Prix, ending his 20-year reign as team principal.

The Briton became a household name in recent years and was known for the witty remarks directed at his rivals as well as his far-reaching success at the helm of Red Bull.

The team opted to make a leadership change midway through the ongoing F1 season, which has seen Red Bull dip out of title contention for the first time in several years.

Speaking to Sky F1, pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz explained Horner's exit came about after losing the power struggle within the organisation.

“I've debated with myself long and hard to talk about the situation with Christian Horner,” Kravitz said.

“The paddock has moved on, it’s not really a story anymore. Everyone has moved on to what's going on with Lando [Norris], Max [Verstappen] and the championship.

“If you're looking for an explanation, all I'll very quickly say is that it seems to be that it was just the power struggle that we've been following since essentially Bahrain last year and that Christian ran out of support.

“He ran out of friends, essentially.”

Red Bull called up Laurent Mekies to replace Horner, with the Frenchman navigating his first weekend in charge this weekend at the Belgian GP.

While Mekies' impact will only start to be felt in the months ahead, Kravitz believes the team will look much different going forward without Horner at the forefront.

“Will this be a different team without his aggressive, spiky character? Yes,” Kravitz stated.

“Will it suffer from not having an aggressive, spiky character, a piranha of the piranha club, in charge of Red Bull. It might do.

“This is an open question that people will be debating when we get more races and when Red Bull returns to championship contention - will this be a less effective, less aggressive, less incisive, less spiky team without Christian Horner at the head of it than with it?

“I think the answer has to be yes it will be a less aggressive, incisive, potentially spiky team without Christian Horner in charge.

“They’ve decided to go this way. Laurent Mekies is a very different character. A peacemaker rather than a pirate.

“Oliver Mintzlaff, the guy in charge, has decided it’s the Mekies way he wants for the future and not the Horner way.”