Christian Horner handed 'odd time' assessment after Red Bull axe

The boss of Motorsport UK has declared his shock at the dismissal of Christian Horner as team principal of Red Bull, but conceded the arena in which he competed is "brutal".

David Richards, who has been in charge of the governing body for motorsport in the UK for seven and a half years, recalled the time Horner started his management career in 1999 when they ran an F3000 race team together.

On being informed by RacingNews365 that Red Bull had parted ways with Horner, Richards said: "Well, that's dynamite!"

Richards was particularly surprised by the timing of the decision, midway through the current campaign, even if Red Bull's results have started to tail off recently, leaving it almost 300 points behind runaway leaders McLaren in the constructors' championship.

"I know there have been lots of rumours going on in the background, and lots of suggestions that the relationship was strained, but it seems a really odd time of year to do something like that from both parties," said Richards, speaking to RacingNews365.

"I would have thought that if you're going to change your team principal, you'd wait until the end of the season, or even the mid-season break [that follows the next two grands prix in Belgium and Hungary]. There's clearly something behind this that we're not fully aware of."

Richards, though, feels Horner deserves respect for what he has achieved over two decades with the team in building it up into an F1 powerhouse that has won eight drivers' titles and six constructors' championships in his tenure.

"These things happen, and it's a pretty brutal world with motorsport and the leadership of teams," said Richards. "But you know, he's certainly got some incredible results on his CV that'll never go away."