When I heard that Christian Horner had been sacked from the Red Bull Formula 1 team, I must admit I was surprised it all happened so quickly.
Being told of your fate two days after the British Grand Prix is brutal, especially given the summer break is just around the corner after the upcoming double-header. You'd think that as a courtesy for what he's done for Red Bull over the past 20 years that they could have waited until then.
This is why I can't believe it's solely down to the drop-off in performance, meaning there's other reasons behind the scenes that contributed to Red Bull's decision. Yes, he had his internal problems last year but after various investigations that appears to have quietened down. So the big question is, what else has been going on?
During his two decades as team principal, Horner built the team up from what was Jaguar. Believe me, being part of Jaguar in its early days was no easy task, but even when I got the sack from it they waited until the end of the season! The end result was very similar, an envelope was handed to me and I had a phone call from America - together it explained everything.
There's been no talk of any gardening leave or anything like that, so I have to assume the decision was by some sort of mutual consent. They have probably agreed that neither party would throw any mud.
What's done is done and we might never know why, but from my perspective outside of the team some of the decisions Horner made were questionable and contributed to his departure. The first of those was losing Adrian Newey. He didn't have a mega offer from somewhere else agreed before he left, so why did that happen?
I don't think Adrian was pleased with Horner's actions and/or reactions when the accusations related to a female employee flared up. What's more, Horner tended to downplay Adrian's importance. While Horner also made the effort to credit everyone else in the technical team, that gave the impression he was the one who pulled it all together given he brought in Newey in the first place.
Newey is one of the, if not the, most respected technical leaders in Formula 1 and has been for three decades. He's a huge asset and given his capabilities, the team principal's job is to jump when Newey tells them to. The only question should be how high. Williams and McLaren's performance both dropped off after losing Newey, so Horner should have done his utmost to keep him. What's happened to Red Bull's form since Newey left proves that.
The second concern is one that is almost being kept under the counter for now: has Red Bull bitten off more than it can chew by becoming a power unit manufacturer?
Currently, the relationship with Honda is perfect, so why throw that away? Yes, Honda did initially decide to leave F1, opening the door to this situation before recommitting, but Red Bull should have immediately tried to do a new deal. The problem now is it's like a huge oil tanker going the wrong way, it's way too late to change course.
I'm not convinced this is all down to Horner, given making decisions with Helmut Marko looking over your shoulder must be difficult, but as team principal you are the one who takes responsibility for success or failure.
Red Bull has been too slow in digging itself out of the hole that started to open up mid-season last year. Over the past 12 months that hole has become a crater. Yes, Max Verstappen has managed to pull a few poles out of the bag and the odd race win, but for a team that not long ago went into each race weekend to win the success it has had recently has been small change.
Then there is the old question of internal politics. When you have a company of probably 2000 people there will always be someone who doesn't agree with the way things are going. If they have a voice then things can very quickly get disruptive. Horner has been very good at playing the political game in F1, but he appears to have been outmanoeuvred this time.
Full Horner sacking coverage on The Race
- What it means for Verstappen's Red Bull future
- Where Horner might go next
- Everything you need to know about his replacement Mekies
- Mark Hughes' take
- How the bombshell sacking happened
In reality, this won't be the last we'll see of Horner in F1. While it doesn't appear he's left to take up another job, I wouldn't put it past Ferrari or Alpine to go after him. He has vast experience and has achieved a huge amount of success so he will be in demand.
As time passes, we will learn more about how this will work but I can only wish Laurent Mekies good luck. His main asset is that he is from an engineering background, so he will be able to have a genuine influence on the design team at Red Bull.
