Christian Horner

The red bull curse

It appears that not only is the second Red Bull seat jinxed, but now the Red Bull team principal seat is too.

On the 9th of July 2025, it was publicly announced that Horner was to leave Red Bull with immediate effect, and Laurent Mekies, team principal of RB, stepped into the role of Red Bull team principal.

The reason for Horner's departure was speculated by many Formula 1 fans. The most common rumour that floated around was that allegations made against Horner in February 2024 about inappropriate behaviour towards a female employee. Horner denied these allegations despite screenshots and pictures. Some think that these allegations have come back to bite him as he kept receiving negative backlash as a result of the allegations. This is where the rumour came from that states allegedly Horner was fired because the negative backlash directed at Horner was ruining Red Bull's image within sponsors and the public eye.

Another speculation was that the owners were unsatisfied with the second Red Bull car's performance. At the beginning of the season, the seat was occupied by Liam Lawson, who did not manage to secure any points for the team, which is unsurprising as the team only gave Lawson two races in the car. From Japan 2025 to present, the seat is occupied by Yuki Tsunoda, who only managed to secure 10 points over 12 races.

The final popular speculation is that Horner was wanting more and more control within the Red Bull team. It is speculated that the management wanted more control of the commercial side of things, but Horner was unwilling to give up control. Ultimately, he was unable to win the power struggle.