Christian Horner failures pinpointed as key reason why it was 'time to go'

Ralf Schumacher believes Christian Horner's failure to replace senior Red Bull figures meant it was time for him to "leave" the team. 

Horner was sacked on Wednesday after 20 years at the helm of Red Bull, to be replaced immediately by Racing Bulls boss Laurent Mekies. 

The longest-serving team principal in F1, Horner, has been placed on effective indefinite gardenning leave after being removed from his "operational duties" but remains employed by Red Bull. 

Since 2023, senior figures in the team, including chief technical officer Adrian Newey, sporting director Jonathan Wheatley and chief designer Rob Marshall, have all left, with Red Bull suffering a noticeable drop in car performance and in its pit-stops and handling of races. 

As such, Schumacher believes Horner's failure to replace the key figures who have left spelt the end for him at the Milton Keynes-based team.

"You have to say that Christian Horner had an incredibly successful time at Red Bull, for 20 years, with many titles," Schumacher explained on Sky Sports Germany.

"There is a lot of respect for his achievements, but of course, there was a big private issue in recent years, and then, on, the whole issue became a bit unmanageable and a lot of people left the team. 

"Horner just failed to rebuild this team, to get new people, and that is why it was time [for him to leave]. 

"In the end, it was really that he was no longer able to attract good people. They didn't want to come because of his personal problems. I think that's why Red Bull finally wielded the axe.

"He reorganised everything, created a new number one [technical lead in Pierre Waché], accepted that Adrian Newey would leave the team because Horner thought Waché could do better in designing the car, and it didn't work out. 

"Red Bull is going backwards, and Max Verstappen is about to leave. 

"You have to remember that Red Bull was always the young team, a bit revolutionary in the very beginning. That has changed a bit now with Horner, who has a different management style."