Will Christian Horner’s sacking keep Max Verstappen at Red Bull?

Max Verstappen’s future at Red Bull has been thrust back into the limelight following the sudden sacking of Christian Horner.

Horner, who had overseen six constructors’ world championships and eight drivers’ world titles in his 20-year spell as Red Bull boss, was dismissed on Wednesday in news which shocked the F1 world.

The 51-year-old Briton will be replaced by Laurent Mekies, who has been promoted from Red Bull’s sister team Racing Bulls.

It is believed by some within F1 that Horner’s exit means Verstappen is more likely to stay at Red Bull.

Verstappen has been heavily linked with a shock switch to Mercedes amid Red Bull’s current competitive struggles that have seen the four-time world champion fall 69 points behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and look unlikely to retain his crown for a fifth successive year.

Verstappen’s father, Jos, engaged in a public feud with Horner after allegations of inappropriate behaviour were made against him in February 2024, but Horner stayed in his role after he was cleared by an internal investigation.

However, friction between Horner and Verstappen’s camp is believed to have remained, leading to suggestions that “some kind of ultimatum” from the Dutchman’s team may have led to Horner’s downfall.

Verstappen is under contract with Red Bull until the end of 2028 but is known to have performance-related clauses in his deal which could enable him to leave as early as next year.

Will Max Verstappen stay or go?

Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle believes Verstappen is now “more likely” to stay at Red Bull following Horner’s axe.

"It perhaps makes it more likely that the Verstappens [Jos and Max] will stay there. I think it became quite personal,” Brundle said.

"Every point, podium and victory Max has through his own genius driving, is in a Red Bull car. He's often said he wants to see his career out at Red Bull if he can. They are debuting their own engine for the first time next year, in what will be the biggest change in F1 history of car and power unit, at the same time.

"Christian has been in the driving seat of that aspect of the team completely. Max has an exit clause based on where he is in the world championship at the end of this month.

"Does this mean he's more likely to go or stay? I can only surmise it means he's more likely to stay at the team.”

Fellow Sky F1 pundit Karun Chandhok feels the same due to the “huge amount of power” that Verstappen’s camp holds within Red Bul.

“They’ve got this situation now where a huge amount of focus in that team is on Max Verstappen,” Chandhok told Sky Sports News.

“Without Max Verstappen that team would be struggling. Yuki Tsunoda finished last in the last couple of races. His predecessors Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, all good drivers for other teams, but they haven’t been able to compete against Max or be anywhere close to Max.

“So it’s put a huge amount of power into that team on Max Verstappen and his camp and his team. If Max leaves, today Red Bull would have been fourth or fifth in the championship.

“Maybe Christian’s now had to carry the blame and carry the can for some of that.”

He added: “Christian himself said very openly that Max Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull and he’s not going anywhere else.

“Christian’s not there anymore, does that have an effect? I don’t know. My gut tells me that Max will now stay at Red Bull in 2026 and then we’ll see what happens beyond that, but that’s only my gut feeling at the moment.”