Christian Horner SLAMS F1 rival as exit rumours swirl

Christian Horner, Red Bull, Bahrain, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Horner SLAMS F1 rival as exit rumours swirl

Christian Horner hits back at a F1 rival

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Thursday 16 January 2025 23:00

Christian Horner has slammed one of his rivals after they added to rumours over a series of Red Bull team member exits.

Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley both announced their departure from the team in 2024, and will move to rival teams Aston Martin and Sauber respectively this year.

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Following these exits Red Bull’s woes began to materialise on-track, and rival teams McLaren and Ferrari began to consistently outperform the team from the Spanish Grand Prix onwards.

Furthermore, McLaren CEO Zak Brown suggested that his team had received a flurry of CVs from Red Bull employees, in an alleged mass exodus.

2024 was a difficult year for Christian Horner

Horner hits out in Russell after Red Bull claims

“I’m not questioning his driving abilities one single bit, but the second he does not have the fastest car, let’s take Budapest as an example, he crashes into Lewis, he slams his whole team, and he loses the plot,” Russell said at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2024.

“Straight away after that race, 25 per cent of his engineering team were sending their CVs to Mercedes, to McLaren, to Aston Martin, because they said they can’t deal with a guy like that.”

However, following these comments Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has since slammed Russell’s claims of these exits.

Christian Horner hits back at George Russell

"I'd be more worried about other issues if I was George," Horner told the media.

"I don't know where he thinks and who he thinks they were offering their services to, but all the key people have made long-term commitments to the company.

"If you look at people like [Gianpiero Lambiase] and the key members of the engineering team, they are all on long-term contracts. One of the less pleasant sides of the business is the lengths that will be gone to try and capitalise on other issues in other teams.”

"I've said it before, but the higher you rise, the sharper the knives.

“And they got pretty sharp at some points during 2024. But when there is so much at stake, other teams will use whatever tools they have to try and destabilise what has been a hugely successful team."

Red Bull Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Ferrari McLaren Christian Horner