Christian Horner: Zak Brown ‘not surprised’ former Red Bull boss was sacked

McLaren Racing chief executive officer Zak Brown says he was “not surprised” Christian Horner was sacked as team boss of Red Bull.

Horner was dismissed as team principal and CEO of Red Bull on 9 July, three days after their driver Max Verstappen finished fifth in the British Grand Prix.

Brown told Canadian television channel TSN: “I’m maybe [surprised by] the timing, but not the result.

“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.”

Red Bull has given no reason for the removal of Horner, who has been replaced by Frenchman Laurent Mekies, formerly the principal of second team Racing Bulls.

Horner had led the team since their debut in 2005. His departure came 17 months after it emerged that a female employee had accused him of sexual harassment and coercive, controlling behaviour. Two separate Red Bull internal investigations dismissed the allegations, which Horner has always denied.

Since then, Red Bull have gone through a tempestuous period, including a decline in their competitiveness.

Their chief technical officer Adrian Newey resigned in April last year, at least partly as a result of the allegations against Horner. Newey – regarded as the greatest F1 designer in history – now works for Aston Martin.

In July last year, long-time sporting director Jonathan Wheatley also resigned. He is now team principal of Sauber, which next year is morphing into Audi’s factory team.

And in September Red Bull head of strategy Will Courtenay signed for McLaren. He is currently being held to his contract and is expected to join his new team at some point next year.