Horner officially removed as Red Bull F1 director after shock sacking

Christan Horner has officially left his role as director of Red Bull’s various UK entities, one month after his shock sacking as Formula 1 team boss.

Horner was removed from his position as Red Bull team principal and CEO just days after the British Grand Prix, with his 20-year reign at Milton Keynes coming to an end after Red Bull’s shareholders opted to make a change.

With the Austrian side of the business attempting to reassert more control over Horner’s sprawling remit, the parent company installed former Racing Bulls team boss Laurent Mekies as Horner’s replacement, with a narrower focus on the Red Bull F1 team.

At the time Horner was removed from his operational role with immediate effect, but on paper he was still employed by the team as the director of various entities registered at the UK’s Companies House, including Red Bull Racing, Red Bull Technology, Red Bull Powertrains – which operates the current Honda-built engines – as well as Red Bull Powertrains 2026.

But on Thursday new filings at Companies House showed Horner has now officially been terminated as director of those four companies over the past 48 hours, suggesting the company has agreed severance details with the 51-year-old.

At the time of Horner’s ousting in July, Red Bull’s long-time global head of HR Stefan Salzer was added to the four entities as a director for administrative reasons.

Under Horner’s reign, Red Bull won eight drivers’ championships, four apiece during dominant spells for Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel, as well as six constructors’ crowns.

Horner was also the centre of controversy last year for alleged inappropriate behaviour against an employee, an internal investigation which he has since been cleared from.

But the affair sowed further division between Horner and the Austrian side of the business, which grew wary of the power Horner had amassed in recent years.

Having replaced Horner with Mekies at its main team, Red Bull appointed Alan Permane as his successor at Racing Bulls, stepping up from the role of racing director.