Guenther Steiner makes eye-opening Red Bull prediction after Christian Horner exit

Guenther Steiner insists Red Bull's performance won't be immediately impacted by Christian Horner's abrupt dismissal.

Horner was removed from his position as team principal and CEO of Red Bull with immediate effect after the British Grand Prix, with Laurent Mekies promoted from sister squad Racing Bulls as his replacement.

Horner had led Red Bull since its entry into F1 in 2005, guiding the team to eight drivers’ titles and six constructors’ championships. However, his tenure had not been without controversy, particularly a texting scandal in 2024 that triggered an independent investigation.

Former Haas team boss Steiner admitted it’s difficult to make a comment when the reasons for Horner’s exit haven’t been publicly disclosed, but suggested it may have stemmed from deteriorating relationships between the Briton and other members of the Red Bull company.

“I don't know why he was let go, so it's difficult to say right or wrong what the reasons are,” Steiner, who worked with Horner at Red Bull before forming Haas, said on the Business of Sport podcast.

“I would say Christian won lots of championships in the end, but if there was something that wasn't working internally, if there was too much friction, at some stage you have to make change.

“Because if there is friction, it takes energy and people don't focus on the right things to make the team and the car better, but how to position themselves in the team.

“There is nothing else [but] a big corporate. Big corporates normally struggle when there is a power struggle. If it is all clear and plain sailing, companies are successful.

“But I don't know what happened internally. For me it was a little bit surprising what happened.”

Guenther Steiner predicts Red Bull performance

Horner’s exit comes just six months before the next-generation of F1 cars hit the track for the first time in pre-season testing.

The 2026 rules are particularly challenging for Red Bull, with the team having elected to form its in-house engine programme in partnership with Ford following the exit of current partner Honda.

However, Steiner believes the leadership changes at Red Bull will not have any consequences on the team’s performance at the start of the 2026 season, given the long development cycles in F1.

“In the short term there is not a big impact right away [from] new people coming in or old people going,” he explained.

“These are racing cars, it's not a football team that you bring a new player and the next game you've got the new star there or the new talent there. 

“If you have got an F1 team that is good, it takes years to get bad. But also if you are bad, it years to build up to be good again. You cannot judge them [in a short term].

“Now [with] Christian going, in the next year of races, there will be no change. The scene is already set for next year. The cars are under development. Red Bull is doing their own PU next year, their own engine and everything. That's all set up.

“Now if somebody comes in and changes [things], he or she wouldn't have the time to do anything because everything is such a long lead time.

“Now Christian leaves, you will not see a spike, neither down or up. It will be more what is next, how they are doing it, how they are restructuring and what were their actual problems with Christian because I don't know.

“The team still won races this year, so it isn't this bad. Obviously, they are not where they want to be. But I put that one down [to] they cannot get a second driver who can keep up with Max [Verstappen], because if you take Max out, Red Bull will be last in the championship.”

Steiner had also been the face of Haas F1 team since its inception in 2016, but his contract with the squad wasn’t renewed at the end of the 2023 season.