Why Christian Horner's departure from Red Bull could trigger a "Ferrari-like" decline for the squad

The internal investigation into Red Bull boss Christian Horner is something everyone is keeping an eye on. However, there has been no clarity when it comes to what Horner has done or what the investigation entails.

If reports are to be believed, it appears that Christian Horner might be on his way out of Red Bull. The reason behind that is not necessarily what he's done or what publications have been writing. It is the complete silence of the brand as it seems to have distanced itself already from the man who led its F1 team to glory last year.

There appears to be politics at play in all of this and while it's never a good thing when that happens, F1 teams have always had a lot of it. There is however a major concern when it comes to Christian Horner and it is around what would happen to Red Bull if he leaves. What if Horner's departure triggers a collapse similar to what Ferrari had post Michael Schumacher's departure?

In this feature, we will take a look at why the team risks suffering a Ferrari-like fate if it lets go of Christian Horner.

#1 Red Bull's X-factor would be gone

First and foremost, the reason why Red Bull is where it is today is because of the fact that intra-team politics has never been high on the team's agenda. The team has never been bogged down by a problem that ails so many big teams in the history of the sport.

In what will be the team's 20th year, two things have remained constant at the top, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko. Neither have been shuffled out and neither have made it a point to try and undermine the other person's authority. Through thick and thin, politics has been one thing that has not worn down Red Bull in any way.

Unfortunately though, the move to get rid of Christian Horner is going to be a highly political one. Unless Horner has allegedly crossed a very serious line, the board has a history of not paying too much attention to all of this and moving forward with the business. The biggest example was Helmut Marko's xenophobic comments about Sergio Perez last season that didn't even earn him a slap on the wrist.

If something like that can be looked past, then either Christian Horner has done something adverse (which would have been an immediate termination in general) or there's something going on in the boardroom that reeks of politics.

Once a team like Red Bull loses that X-factor, something that could have happened with Dietrich Mateschitz's departure, it loses what made it brilliant and what made it a leader in F1.

#2 Christian Horner is the glue that has held everything together

In essence, Red Bull was created with the vision of Christian Horner. It's a team that was built over two decades by a man who was hired at a very young age to be a team principal. Since 2005, what Horner has accomplished is something not many thought he would be able to do. He lured Adrian Newey to the team.

He won multiple world titles with Sebastian Vettel as the lead driver. Then he led the team to recover from the slump of the Turbo hybrid era and won with Max Verstappen.

In 2023, Horner executed the most dominant season in the sport's history and he did so by not meddling with the core group in any way. He had the ability to bring Max Verstappen to the table and he had the ability to keep Adrian Newey.

Sometimes, Christian Horner does not get credit but the man is the glue that has held Red Bull racing together.

#3 The inevitable domino effect

Once the leader departs, the directionless followers start dispersing to find themselves a new breeding ground. At Red Bull, Christian Horner is the leader. If he somehow leaves, the domino effect would be immense. With teams like Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston Martin and McLaren just waiting to pounce on any Red Bull talent they can get their hands on, this would be the worst possible scenario for the team.

Once Horner leaves, it won't be long before the team suffers a fate similar to what Ferrari did when Michael Schumacher retired. First, it was Ross Brawn, then Rory Byrne, and then Jean Todt. The house of cards started to fall and as a result, the team has never reached the same heights ever again.