Guenther Steiner puzzled by 'very off' Christian Horner exit

Former Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner was left shocked by Christian Horner's departure from Red Bull, detailing the situation as "very off". 

It was announced on Wednesday morning that Horner and the Milton Keynes-based outfit had parted ways with immediate effect, following more than 20 years together. 

Laurent Mekies has been promoted to replace Horner, with him becoming just the second team boss in Red Bull's F1 history. 

Steiner worked with Horner for over a year when Red Bull first joined the F1 paddock, and was left stunned by his exit.

"Yeah, I worked with him in the beginning. I worked with him over a year at the beginning," Steiner told the Red Flags podcast. We started almost together. He started one month before me. 

"So, yeah, I was pretty surprised as well when it happened. There was something going on at Red Bull, I think we all were aware of it. We cannot say, 'Oh, we didn't know that something was going on', because it's more than a year now that, since we had whatever it was called, that scandal in the beginning of last year. 

"It wasn't happy days anymore at Red Bull, I would say. But I didn't expect it. If something like this happens, normally, Red Bull is pretty good at managing it a little bit with a gliding path or something. 

"But this came completely out of the blue anyway, to me, obviously, maybe not to Red Bull. But nothing was out there, that this would happen. Things change and things move on."

Horner exit timing

What has surprised Steiner the most about Horner's departure is the unusual timing of it, two races ahead of the summer break. 

As outlined by the Italian, announcements of this magnitude are usually kept for the summer break, due to the factory shut downs. 

"Yeah, no, I can't unpick it because as I said it's very off, you've got only a few races before the summer break," added Steiner. 

"Normally you do it in the summer break, you've got the people shut down. This is done a few days after a race. So it is off, as you say, the timing of it. 

"And I guess they had some disagreement about something, whatever it is, and we will find out. We just have to wait a little bit. This in the moment is not out yet, but it's very off how it happened."