Ex-driver drops truth bomb on Christian Horner's Red Bull stint
Christijan Albers has not minced words in his assessment of Christian Horner’s stint at Red Bull Racing.
“Horner has played a very important role at Red Bull over all these years and achieved a lot, but everyone has their expiration date.”- Christijan Albers
The former Minardi Formula 1 driver, in his column for De Telegraaf, stressed that despite Horner’s pivotal role in the success of the Red Bull team, certain incidents and internal conflicts contributed to the decline of the outfit under the former team principal.
“Horner has played a very important role at Red Bull over all these years and achieved a lot, but everyone has their expiration date. You're seeing that now. It's actually a shame for Red Bull that it took so much time, literally. Because it's no secret that many people wanted to get rid of him at the beginning of 2024.”
“Whatever happened with the woman in question, who accused him, as a team principal and CEO, you shouldn't be in that position.”
Albers also criticised the departure of several high-profile personalities at the Milton Keynes-based outfit, noting the many exits from the team in recent seasons.
“A whole string of top personnel have left, such as Adrian Newey, Jonathan Wheatley, and even earlier, Rob Marshall. Horner also made the mistake of extending Sergio Perez's contract, only to dismiss him a few months later.”
Albers on Horner’s severance package
The former Dutch driver also questioned the severance package Horner was awarded following his dismissal from the Red Bull outfit. Albers concluded by detailing how the former team principal lost his way despite the success he achieved during his stint at the team.
“As a former driver, I find it absolutely ridiculous that he's getting such a huge severance package of around 60 million euros. As a driver, you always have performance clauses in your contract: if you don't perform, you can go.”
“With all the success he's achieved, he lost his way somewhere, lost focus, and nearly caused Red Bull to lose its top-team status.”
“Only to be bought off. I understand that Red Bull wants to get everything done as quickly as possible, but it's actually ridiculous that you're being rewarded for it in this way, so to speak.”
Horner witnessed his two-decade-long stint at the Red Bull Racing outfit brought to an abrupt end days after the British Grand Prix. Prior to his dismissal, several reports about internal conflicts and the departure of high-profile staff had heralded the spotlight.
Amid all this, the team’s on-track performance continued to dip, with the RB21 proving to be a tricky car to drive. Horner was subsequently replaced by Laurent Mekies, who appears to be returning stability to the team since taking the reins of leadership.
In recent weeks, Horner's name linked with Ferrari. The team's drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc both reflected on the rumours during the media day at the Circuit of the Americas.
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