Christian Horner felt 'hurt and robbed' at being denied major Red Bull opportunity

Former Red Bull boss Christian Horner has described feeling "hurt and robbed" at being denied the opportunity to see the team's first in-house engine run in a car for the first time. 

Horner was dismissed as Red Bull team principal and CEO in July 2025, just as the team was preparing its first in-house power unit for the 2026 season under its new Red Bull Powertrains arm, of which Horner was a central figure in deciding to launch.

It was founded in 2021 and took over the upkeep of Honda's units until the end of 2025, before the decision was taken that Red Bull would become a power unit manufacturer in its own right for 2026, with Ford later joining as a technical partner for the project. 

Horner, as team principal, was one of a number of key figures involved in the project, but was not able to see the DM-01 unit - so named for the late Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz - run in a Red Bull car for the first time - which happened in January 2026.

Reflecting on the work that had gone into launching RBPT, Horner explained he felt "great sadness" at not being able to make it to seeing the engine run on track in a Red Bull machine. 

"When I started at Red Bull, there were under 400 people. When I left, there were 2,200," Horner told The Guardian. 

"I poured my heart and soul into that business and convinced people to leave other teams for Red Bull. I never had a big turnover in staff because there was tremendous loyalty over a long period. 

"The startup engine business had been founded in 2021, and I was about to get it on the track when I left. I felt great sadness at not seeing that engine in a car.

"Nobody could take away the 124 wins and 14 championships, but I felt particularly hurt and robbed that I didn’t have the opportunity to see that [Red Bull-manufactured] Powertrains engine win."

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Horner on first RBPT F1 win

At the recent Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, RBPT took its first pole position and grand prix victory through Max Verstappen. 

Reflecting on the moment, Horner described the "landmark" feeling and his conversations with Verstappen. 

"I felt very proud seeing what it meant to everybody and that they sent the Powertrains representative onto the podium," he added.

"I had messages throughout the team, and I texted Max after the race. He was very magnanimous, and it was a landmark moment to see that engine win. 

"It reinforced to me that, if you assemble the right people with the right culture and the necessary tools, anything is possible.

"Red Bull has been the maverick team. It’s pushed the boundaries. Only Red Bull would do something crazy enough to build a new engine as a subsidiary of a fizzy drinks manufacturer.

"Its mantra was to be nonconformist, to be a disruptor. It’s a little different now."