Would Christian Horner's departure from Red Bull be the biggest fall from grace in F1 history?

F1 has been hit by a major controversy around Red Bull boss Christian Horner and an investigation that could lead to his departure. At the moment, the facts of the matter are not too clear.

There has been one official statement from Red Bull where it admitted that there was an internal investigation going on. Other than that, there have been far too many conflicting reports from publications that cannot even be corroborated.

As of now, what we can confidently claim is that a complaint has been filed against Christian Horner and there is incriminating evidence as well. Red Bull has opened an internal investigation into this and there is a definite risk that Horner could lose his job.

The question that we are trying to answer in this feature is if the investigation leads to Christian Horner's departure, would this be the biggest fall from grace in F1 history? Let's take a look.

Christian Horner and Red Bull's F1 stint peaked in 2023

It's very hard to forget that everything seemed perfect for Christian Horner just a week back. There was a major announcement involving Ferrari and Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton announcing his decision to move to the Italian team at the end of the year.

That news rocked the sport in a manner no other announcement had in a long time. F1 pundits like Will Buxton even termed it the biggest driver transfer ever in the sport.

For Red Bull and Christian Horner, however, all of this was music to the ears because it was a clear indication that the opposition was not in a position to challenge the reigning champions. To add to this, the team was coming into 2024 on the back of the most dominant season in the history of the sport.

In 2023, Red Bull won 21 of the 22 races while Max Verstappen himself won 19, both of them records for a single season. In all of this, there was one thing that appeared to stand out more than anything else. This was the peak that Christian Horner could reach as a team principal.

He was one of the founding members of the team in 2005 and in 2023, he managed to put together the sport's most dominant season. It's very hard for anyone to replicate what the team did in 2023; it will likely always be considered the standard for dominance in F1.

Christian Horner has been synonymous with Red Bull in F1

As we mentioned earlier, Christian Horner has been a name synonymous with Red Bull ever since the team came into existence in 2005. He was the founding member alongside Helmut Marko and Dietrich Mateschitz. Each and every block of success or failure that could be attributed to the team in F1 is a result of Horner's work.

He's taken the team from being considered a drinks company to the most dominant team in the sport. Be it Adrian Newey being lured from McLaren to become a part of the team, the decision to build the team around Sebastian Vettel in the 2010s, giving Max Verstappen an early promotion in 2016, or taking the lead in setting up the Red Bull power train division, Horner has been behind it all.

This has been an out-and-out Christian Horner operation that has been built by him from the beginning.

His departure will throw Red Bull into disarray

It's hard to understand a world where Red Bull functions like it used to without the man and the vision that built it from scratch. Will Adrian Newey want to continue? Will Max Verstappen feel confident about being a part of this operation? Will Helmut Marko be willing to continue to be a part of the team that he and Christian Horner built?

There are far too many things hinging on the outcome of the investigation and it certainly has the potential to shake the foundations of the sport from within.

Conclusion

If the investigation does prove conclusive and Horner is forced to leave the team, it would have to be the biggest fall from grace ever. F1 won't be the same without the greatest team principal in the history of the sport.

Horner's departure could be a lesson for everyone in the future: always keep your ducks in a row, as things can take a bad turn at the drop of a hat.