Christian Horner, husband of Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and star of Netflix‘s wildly popular F1 docuseries Drive to Survive, has been fired from his role as Red Bull team principal effective immediately.
The sacking comes nearly a year and a half after Horner was accused of sexual harassment and coercive, controlling behavior by a female employee. An investigation into the claims by the team’s parent company Red Bull GmBH later cleared the Briton.
“Red Bull has released Christian Horner from his operational duties with effect from today,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday. He had been Red Bull’s only team principal since its inception in 2005.
The team, thanks to superstar Dutchman Max Verstappen, have claimed immense success in recent years with various Constructors and Drivers’ Championship titles. They had previously dominated from 2010-2013 when Sebastian Vettel won four back-to-back titles.
Since last season, however, they have increasingly struggled and made tough decisions on the second seat. Japanese star Yuki Tsunoda now races alongside Verstappen after Sergio Perez was ditched by Red Bull ahead of the start of the current season.
Horner has been replaced as team principal and chief executive of Red Bull Racing by Laurent Mekies, who has been promoted from junior team Racing Bulls.
“We would like to thank Christian Horner for his exceptional work over the last 20 years,” said Oliver Mintzlaff, Red Bull’s chief executive of corporate projects and investments. “With his tireless commitment, experience, expertise and innovative thinking, he has been instrumental in establishing Red Bull Racing as one of the most successful and attractive teams in Formula 1.”
“Thank you for everything, Christian, and you will forever remain an important part of our team history.”
