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Zak Brown, the widely popular and respected CEO of McLaren Racing has expressed that he is "not surprised" really about the recent axing of Red Bull's team principal, Christian Horner. Speaking to leading Formula 1 media platforms, the Los Angeles-born top executive of McLaren, currently the most dominant Constructor in the entirety of Formula 1 has shared his humble two cents about the Briton's firing.
Brown, quoted by leading British F1 broadcaster, Sky Sports, shared, "I think there's been a lot of drama there the last couple of years, and it doesn't seem like that drama has been calming down - maybe been getting worse. So, I'm not surprised, anytime in the middle of the season. But we're head down on our championship. They've got Max [Verstappen] still knocking on the door, so we've got to pay attention to that. But, yeah, tremendous amount of success they've had."
Christian Horner has been responsible for nurturing the Red Bull outfit into a dominant, top level frontrunner since many years. It was under his guidance and leadership that the Milton Keynes-based outfit delivered four driver's titles during the Sebastian Vettel era- 2010 to 2013 and later, as seen from 2021 to 2024 with Max Verstappen earning recurring world titles.
Together with Dr. Helmut Marko, who played the part of a senior advisor and dominant multiple title-winning Dutch driver Max Verstappen (who also happens to be the current defending world champion), Horner formed the key trinity at Red Bull.
Christian Horner's position as Red Bull team principal increasingly drew criticism amid allegations
However, following widepsread allegations of misconduct with a Red Bull personnel as of last year, the reports of which spread like wildfire coupled with the team delivering underwhelming results as seen for much of this year, Christian Horner's position as the top boss at the racing team increasingly drew criticism from different quarters. And there came a time where the Englishman simply couldn't save his seat, the imminent danger of being terminated growing with each passing Grand Prix.
https://x.com/redbullracing/status/1942909172212707688
Zak Brown also shared that while he wasn't too surprised about Horner's departure from Red Bull, he was still taken aback- a bit- by the timing of his exit. It remains to be seen where Red Bull's former top executive moves within Formula 1 and what happens to Verstappen's own racing future. Twin subjects that make the current season even more exciting than it is.
