Christian Horner reflects at Highgate home on sacking, engine project and mental health
Christian Horner, 52, spoke at his home in Highgate on an autumnal morning about being sacked from Red Bull after two decades leading the team and about panic attacks and personal loss following his departure.
Horner discussed the 2024 allegations that prompted investigations and his July 2025 exit from Red Bull, saying he was cleared by two independent inquiries but still felt the end was “particularly brutal and sad”. His wife, Geri Halliwell‑Horner, was present during the interview; Horner said he delayed processing his dismissal to support his daughter Olivia through the period after Olivia’s mother died from eye cancer. He noted that Red Bull has struggled since his departure but that Max Verstappen has twice won recently with the team’s Powertrains engine — at the Bahrain Grand Prix nine days ago and again in Singapore “this past Sunday.”
On the personal impact of leaving, Horner said: “It felt particularly brutal and sad to finish in that manner. But I now have a reasonable relationship with Oliver Mintzlaff. He rang the other day and thanked me for all I’d done for the engine.” He added: “It was very strange because that group became your extended family. So the tears on grown men’s faces was deeply moving.” Horner said he “didn’t really process it till a month later because, in the immediate aftermath, I focused on supporting my daughter [Olivia] through a hideous period.”
Horner placed his exit in the context of bereavement and identity, citing Toto Wolff’s openness about depression and describing the shock of losing a work-defined identity: “Toto was very brave to talk openly about such a factor for people our age. I hadn’t experienced those issues but I had an appreciation during this period of how people could [suffer]. The identity of many middle-aged guys is through their work. Suddenly you have that stripped and taken from you. Who are you? What are you? What is your purpose? You either curl up into a ball or brush yourself down and get up.” He also revealed he has experienced panic attacks and described the symptoms and diagnosis as anxiety.
Recalling his early years at Red Bull, Horner said he joined in 2005 as the youngest team principal in F1 and that the organisation grew from under 400 employees to 2,200 by the time he left; he said he “poured my heart and soul into that business” and highlighted the start of the in‑house engine project in 2021, adding he had been sad not to see that engine on track while he was still at the team. He quoted a passage from his book about his first day in charge: “Formula One is ruthless, I thought, watching from my car as Tony and Dave Pitchforth, their just-fired managing director, carried glum expressions and cardboard boxes stuffed with personal belongings … when I was eventually shown to my office, it resembled a crime scene. A barely drunk cup of coffee had been abandoned on the desk. Through the walls, I heard Tony’s PA sobbing.”
Horner described internal tensions after Dietrich Mateschitz’s death in 2022 and said there had been attempts to undermine him by figures including Helmut Marko and Jos Verstappen; on Marko he said: “Helmut could be blunt and I was disappointed he’d stayed as a guest of our family two days before [Horner’s sacking] with no indication this was coming.” Asked about Jos Verstappen he said: “There’s nothing to say.” On whether the Verstappens were partly responsible for his removal he replied: “No, it was a Red Bull decision. After Dietrich died, things changed in the leadership.” He said he was not given a clear reason for his dismissal and added: “I think it was a feeling there was too much control in my hands. But I wasn’t really given a reason.”
Horner set out his career numbers and his feelings about them, saying: “Absolutely. But if I don’t go back I had a hell of a run. I won one in every four races I competed in. I had 287 podiums out of 405 races.” He went on: “Nobody could take away the 124 wins and 14 championships [six constructors’ and eight drivers’ titles].” He described watching Verstappen’s recent victory on television, texting Max afterwards and receiving a magnanimous reply, and said seeing a Powertrains representative on the podium made him “very proud.” He added: “It reinforced to me that, if you assemble the right people with the right culture and the necessary tools, anything is possible.”
Horner said he remains open to a return to the sport only in the right circumstances, stressing a preference for a role with part‑ownership and saying his comments about Ferrari had been taken out of context. He stated: “I’m happy to sit outside the sport and see what opportunities present themselves over the coming months or years. It’s not a prerequisite that I go back. I would only return for the right opportunity with like-minded people that want to win. I would never go back just to take part.”
Drive by Christian Horner is published by Bantam on 22 October and is available for pre‑order from Guardian Bookshop; Horner will be sharing stories from the book on a UK tour from 17‑26 October.