On this day one year ago, Christian Horner was sacked as Red Bull Formula 1 team principal after 20 years in charge.
Since then Laurent Mekies was installed as the new team boss, the team enjoyed a resurgence in 2025 in which Max Verstappen came two points off taking a fifth world title and the team began its new era with Red Bull Ford Powertrains.
There’s been bumps along the way, from Yuki Tsunoda’s demotion and Isack Hadjar installed in the tricky second seat alongside Verstappen, to losing key personnel to rival squads, to an unhappy Verstappen who is pondering his future both at the team and in F1.
So, is Red Bull better or worse off than where it was 12 months ago? Our writers have their say.
Growing pains under new management should pay off – Jake Boxall-Legge
When there’s a change in management at a Formula 1 team, a new team principal often wants to change the way that a team operates. Since Red Bull spent 20 years under Christian Horner’s aegis, his style of leadership and his expectation of the team’s working practices have been deeply ingrained throughout the Milton Keynes factory’s halls for some time. It takes a long time to change those habits.
On Horner’s dismissal, later supplanted by Laurent Mekies, it was unsurprising that Mekies wanted to take a different approach. Perhaps an F1 car is the best allegory for this; it might be designed to function in a certain way, based upon a previous driver’s feedback to get the best out of their attributes and skillset. Put another driver in it, with a vastly different driving style, and they might struggle to operate at the car’s peak.
Over 20 years, Red Bull has been designed to function under a certain brand of leadership; when the team is asked to operate with a different approach, it exposes flaws and redundancies in the system. That’s no bad thing, and nor is it a bad thing that some of Red Bull’s biggest players have trickled out of the exit door over the past year. A team cannot realistically expect to keep its key staff forever. Red Bull is undergoing a painful metamorphosis, sure, but it’s one that needed to happen at some point down the line. Pain now, or pain tomorrow? That’s the choice, and Red Bull chose to take the hit in the present.
Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Racing Team Principal
Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images
Red Bull had existed in a largely similar state for years; when that produced a winning car, it was great, but the slide in performance through 2024 and 2025 actually accentuated flaws, those that could be exposed when McLaren – which had been through the same issues itself over the 2010s – finally got the ingredients right at Woking. Winning demonstrates what a team gets right; losing demonstrates what it gets wrong.
And here’s the situation: Red Bull’s old wind tunnel was no longer fit for purpose, the team relied too much on certain members of staff, and continues to rely on Max Verstappen to overcome the deficiencies in machinery. It’s had to wean itself off many of the aspects that covered up its weaknesses.
So, is Red Bull better off without Horner? Long-term, it probably is. Had it kept its former overlord, the team will have continued to function in much the same way as it had over the previous two decades, and perhaps remained comfortable enough to overlook the flaws. In following Mekies’ vision, the team has to take a new approach. It might be uncomfortable, and it might come with a drop in performance as the team players adjust to their new environment, but it’s all in the name of future-proofing.
It might not feel like Red Bull is going anywhere at the moment, given that the folk who follow F1 demand instant success. But the F1 teams which lasted have undergone myriad rebuilds, and it’s now Red Bull’s time to have a turn with the patching trowel.
It’s like this: if a bird defecates on your windscreen and you don’t care enough to clean it, your brain eventually wires itself to ignore the mark. It takes someone else to point out that there is, indeed, a bird poo on your car…
Red Bull in a more difficult position, but not because of the leadership change – Ronald Vording
Looking at the current situation, the challenges Red Bull face are greater than they were a year ago. Max Verstappen was also unhappy with the car’s performance back then, but the team still managed to produce a remarkable turnaround. This year, however, such a recovery appears highly unlikely, something Verstappen himself also acknowledged at Silverstone.
On the chassis side, there is only so much the team can do after the major upgrade packages in Miami and Spielberg, while on the power unit side Red Bull appears to be lacking on the electrical front. Mekies openly admitted on Sunday that Red Bull struggles at energy-starved circuits, meaning that after Silverstone, Spa and Monza could prove equally challenging.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
There is no short-term solution, as Red Bull currently tops the FIA’s internal combustion engine ranking. That means the manufacturer is not eligible for an ADUO token and is therefore unable to modify the hardware of its power unit. Taken together, those factors make it extremely difficult for Red Bull to turn its season around in the way it managed to do last year.
Those issues are not something that can be blamed on Mekies, though. Last year’s political turmoil meant something had to change, with Christian Horner ultimately having to step aside if Red Bull wanted to retain the Verstappens. Given that leadership change and the political reality at the time – with Verstappen speaking positively about Mekies – it was logical for him to stay for 2026, even if that decision has made his position on the driver market more complicated.
Mekies arrived with a refreshing approach and was widely praised for implementing his engineering background, resulting in largely positive feedback from within the team during his first months in charge. Life in F1, however, comes with peaks and troughs – even for the most successful team principals in the paddock – and this is probably the first crisis Mekies has had to deal with at Red Bull.
The performance is falling short, quick solutions do not appear to be available, and then there is Verstappen’s frustration, which he has not hidden in public. Verstappen has always been straightforward with the media – something the international press appreciates about him – and in Canada and Austria he openly stated that the team had not listened to him. That is notable given that Mekies has repeatedly described Verstappen as “the most important sensor” in the car.
While the disappointing performance in 2026 and the limited opportunities to turn things around quickly should not be held against Mekies, it will be fascinating to see how Red Bull’s new leadership handles the current situation. In many respects, this seems the most challenging period the Milton Keynes-based team has faced since the Frenchman took over 12 months ago.
The Max Verstappen factor will decide the narrative – Filip Cleeren
It depends on who you ask, but for all the technically oriented solutions Laurent Mekies has brought to the team, there are also those who will miss Horner’s influence. Mekies was credited for bringing a free mindset to the team, an engineering-led approach that found solutions to some of Red Bull’s biggest 2025 car problems. It also restored some sense of calm after a turbulent power struggle that split the leadership team in camps.
At the same time, Horner did bring strong leadership to the table, and his free rein to run Milton Keynes as he pleased, which ended up contributing his downfall, also shielded the team from scrutiny from Red Bull Austria. I have yet to be convinced that his replacement Mekies is afforded the same leeway, and that hard-nosed Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff is letting the team get on with things the same way Red Bull did before.
Oliver Mintzlaff, Managing director Red Bull GmbH, Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
A disappointing start to 2026, coinciding with the same old rumours around Max Verstappen’s future, certainly isn’t easing the pressure on Red Bull’s leadership team.
There has been a narrative of a brain drain created around the team, with many key names either leaving the team or on their way out. The team has disputed this, boasting its tremendous strength in depth. It is true that Red Bull’s F1 team is employing over a thousand people in Milton Keynes, and that the leaders leaving the team like Gianpiero Lambiase and Paul Monaghan are a handful of high-profile names that the media and public happen to know about while their undoubtedly talented replacements, if coming from within, are not.
But even if the team is right in saying it has the strength in depth, and that it keeps receiving plenty of high-calibre CVs of talent wanting to work for the squad, perhaps there is at least a perception issue there. Pulling off a few coups on the transfer market would help with that.
Red Bull’s biggest plus has been the performance of its first in-house power unit, at least the internal combustion engine, which has been deemed the most powerful of the field. That has had significant implications with the ADUO upgrade scheme, which Red Bull now appears to be frozen out of. Has the FIA made a mistake there? Or has Red Bull been found out by not playing the political game well enough compared to the likes of Mercedes and especially Ferrari? If you ask around in the F1 paddock, both opinions are available. If the latter is true, it would be a harsh lesson to learn for Horner’s successor.
It’s worth keeping in mind that turning around a huge enterprise like a frontline F1 team takes time. Fred Vasseur took charge of Ferrari at the start of 2023 and it took until 2025 for him to get some key signings in, and for this season for those changes to truly take effect. Mekies will similarly need time to make Red Bull Racing his own.
At the end of the day, what was true for Horner is also true for Mekies. How the team is dealing with the Max Verstappen factor, and handle his possible departure, will change the narrative around their leadership.
Right now, it’s neither – Oleg Karpov
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
Even if we think back to where Red Bull was a full calendar year ago, there isn’t a huge difference. The resurgence came in the second half of last season, when Red Bull finally gave Max Verstappen the tools to take the fight to the McLaren drivers in the championship battle, but the middle part of the year wasn’t particularly strong either.
This season has been far more challenging, and Red Bull will need a miracle to remain in title contention. As things stand, Verstappen’s team is not in the fight. But is that enough to declare the organisation to be in crisis? Not necessarily.
With the major regulation changes, it was inevitable that the pecking order would be shaken up. Coincidence or not, the two teams that had the biggest reasons to continue developing their 2025 cars late into last season are the ones that have fallen behind. It’s not only Red Bull that is struggling this year, but McLaren too. You could argue that the papaya team has slipped back partly because of its customer status. But Red Bull has also had to build an entirely new power unit programme from scratch, and has done a lot better than almost anyone expected.
During his appearance in the Silverstone paddock, Christian Horner was keen to point out how proud he is of the work done by Red Bull Powertrains, which he played a key role in establishing, and there is no reason he shouldn’t be. But to suggest that his departure is already being felt would be premature.
This is still largely the same organisation, with the same processes and systems in place. Like any well-built organisation, it can continue to function without being overly dependent on any one individual. The real test of Red Bull’s strength in depth will come over the next few years, not now.
The departures of senior figures, including Horner, will require others to make the necessary adjustments to the team’s systems and tools as they adapt to F1’s ever-changing environment. This year’s slump was always a possibility given the circumstances Red Bull found itself in – fighting for the drivers’ title until the end of last season while simultaneously building a powertrain division from scratch. With or without Horner, it was always going to be a challenge.
Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Racing Team Principal
Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images
Laurent Mekies’ job now is to ensure Red Bull continues adapting in the right direction, especially as it enters a completely new era as an engine manufacturer. But the real judgement on his leadership will only come in 2027 and beyond.
Power struggle still remains, maybe Horner wasn’t the issue? – Ewan Gale
When the bombshell news dropped that Christian Horner was being axed by Red Bull, there was plenty of intrigue as to which direction the squad would travel.
The change at least paid dividends at the end of the season with Laurent Mekies coming in as team principal and his engineering-focused leadership helping transform fortunes, working in tandem with Max Verstappen to lead an end-of-season title charge.
But there have been challenges at the start of the new campaign in amongst other high-profile departures and, while concerns over a power struggle were a contributing factor to Horner’s demise, there is little sign that those have disappeared.
While a barren spell on the track can be expected throughout a team’s life cycle in F1 – look at Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren – the constant niggling behind the scenes cannot be attributed to a successful entity.
Verstappen’s future is the subject of constant speculation: will he leave F1, will he move to McLaren, or Mercedes, or anywhere else? The speculation has, in the past at least, been driven by his personal team and with this seemingly continuing with Mekies at the helm, maybe Horner wasn’t the problem?
Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Manuel Eletto / Getty Images
One major positive since Horner departed has been the fact Isack Hadjar has been able to play on a somewhat level playing field with Verstappen, giving Red Bull two competitive cars rather than the one. The Frenchman has dispelled the curse of the second seat that had overhung since Pierre Gasly replaced Daniel Ricciardo in 2019, one that didn’t seem likely to be exorcised with Horner at the helm.
But has anything really changed in Milton Keynes? You’d have to say, not really.
Too early to say, but initial signs aren’t positive – Haydn Cobb
Yes, I am getting splinters sitting on the fence. Sometimes an entire year is enough for a transformational change to occur at an F1 team. Example in the positive: Alpine. Example in the negative: Aston Martin.
But taking the nuanced and detailed approach, there are thousands of factors that all play a role in how Red Bull looks one year on from Horner’s departure. The new engine programme, one of Horner’s lasting legacies at the team, has arguably been too successful as it positioned itself at the top of the performance charts and got snookered by its rivals in the ADUO scales. But it is also fair to say the overall power unit package cannot be described as the top of the class, even if the measurements taken from its V6 push out more power than the rest.
Beyond that political hot potato, the engine project has had an encouraging start to life – especially when you compare it to the other brand new programmes at Audi and Honda – and the fine tuning over these early stages will aim to aid the driveability and shift issues Max Verstappen so regularly complains about.
The team is still a frontrunning operation and while it has slipped to fourth in the pecking order, compared to second which it held at the time of Horner’s exit, it is in touch with McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari and has the potential to fight back.
However, there’s a feeling the powers of recovery Red Bull had last year, which almost saw Verstappen clinch a fifth world title, are not there this year under the new regulations. A misbehaving flipping rear wing has put the team in the spotlight, while Verstappen hasn’t held back at his unhappiness at the team and disagreements over race weekend decisions.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
Verstappen has become the all-encompassing focal point of the team (not that he wasn’t before) but with Horner, Adrian Newey et al gone it is even more all about the four-time champion. But whether he has the patience to hang around for a recovery, or even has tolerance to continue in F1 at all, is largely what will decide Red Bull’s short- to medium-term future.
Horner’s axing was aimed at calming relationships internally, but it hasn’t stopped the bleed of high-profile personnel being headhunted by rival teams. In the last 12 months it has been announced that head of race engineering Gianpiero Lambiase is off to McLaren and chief engineer Paul Monaghan is set to join Cadillac. And Red Bull waved goodbye to Helmut Marko over the winter – but that was out of choice rather than enforced.
So, the signs aren’t looking good this year versus last year, while if the team was to also lose Verstappen it’d be the end of an era as a title-fighting operation. But if the team can convince Verstappen to stay and show signs of recovery once again, then perhaps things are better off than 12 months ago.
