Martin Brundle signals key reason behind shock Christian Horner sacking: 'That hurt the team'

Former F1 driver Martin Brundle believes Christian Horner “hurt” Red Bull by putting too much focus on Max Verstappen.

Horner was axed from his team principal position at Red Bull in the days following the British Grand Prix.

The Briton, who was in the role for over 20 years, has been replaced by Laurent Mekies who steps up from the sister Racing Bulls squad.

Red Bull has endured on-track difficulties in the last handful of seasons and has often been left fighting one-handed with Verstappen.

Sergio Perez, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda have all struggled to extract pace from Red Bull challengers, which have been notoriously tricky to drive across the last few years.

Speaking to Sky F1, Brundle suggested the decision to place complete focus on Verstappen “hurt the team”.

“They did have a string of great drivers, of course, with David Coulthard, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo,” Brundle said.

“But we've also seen a lot of great young drivers who are still on the grid, like [Alex] Albon, [Carlos] [Pierre] Gasly wrecked, because Max is so unbelievably fast.

“I think the problem Christian had, is he had to focus everything on Max.

“That’s hurt the team, to an extent, in general.”

'Max Verstappen more likely to stay at Red Bull'

Horner’s exit from the squad comes at a time when rumours of a Verstappen departure from Red Bull have intensified.

Verstappen has been linked with a switch to Mercedes ahead of the new technical regulations coming into play next year.

However, Brundle has theorised Verstappen is now more likely to stay put nowthat Horner has been shown the door.

“It’s just odd, it’s a strange time to do it and a strange urgency, I would say to that,” Brundle added.

“We don't know what's gone on behind closed doors, but I do know that team Verstappen were not happy with him there.

“Does that mean Max is more likely to stay now or less likely to stay?

“My gut feeling is it means he's more likely to stay in the team for next year, regardless of what kind of exit clause he might have in his contract.”