In a drastic illustration of the old adage that you’re only as good as your last performance, Christian Horner was this morning relieved of his duties as Team Principal with Red Bull Racing with immediate effect.
Those of the sugary drink backing have been but a pale shadow of their dominant selves this year, but there are plenty of other entities who could readily slide into the same bracket – most notably Ferrari – whose first campaign with Lewis Hamilton in tow has been very similar to the English literature work I studied for my Junior Cert exams in school – Much Ado About Nothing.
Yet for Horner, it seems, the 20 years service, the six Constructors Championships and eight Drivers World Championships – four apiece for Sebastian Vettal and Max Verstappen – counted for diddly squat when the wheels began to come off the wagon this term. A season which to date has only yielded two wins.
Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris engage in the most unlikely of drivers’ title battles. Though viewed through another lens, Horner’s demise has been coming for some time.
Yes, there were some nefarious goings away from the track, but my view there would be that if it didn’t impinge on his ability to or alacrity at discharge of his duties then there’s no way it should make any difference to his employment status.
However, what I would take serious issue with is the shameful manner in which Daniel Ricciardo was treated by the Salzburg based outfit.
Those close to the F1 scene informed this writer that “Daniel was all set to get the second seat but then Sergio’s (Perez) money men threatened to draw stumps if their man was dropped”.
Mind you, it’s also worth noting that (a) Verstappen’s dad Jos has far too much influence on his son’s career and life in general and (b) it seems to be one of the worst kept secrets in sport that relations between Jos and Horner had soured worse than vinegar.
And, cruel and callous though the following undoubtedly is, in top level sport, money talks. Furthermore, it basically boiled down to Red Bull’s adjudication that Max was worth more to them than Christian.
They’d want to just hope they don’t end up needing to learn the lyrics to ‘Big Yellow Taxi’.
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