F1 Rumors: Will Red Bull release Christian Horner before the Australian GP?

Following the start of Formula 1’s 2024 season, Red Bull has been dominating the racetracks as well as the news headlines, courtesy of the ‘now-playing’ soap opera of Christian Horner. The last episode of this saga captured rumors of Max Verstappen and Helmut Marko possibly going out of the doors at Red Bull.

However, in today’s episode, Christian Horner is stealing the show with a rumored ‘kick out’ scene by his team Red Bull.

Will Christian Horner quit Red Bull amid controversy?

Earlier this week, it was being reported that Red Bull’s chief advisor, Helmut Marko, was on the verge of being suspend by the team hierarchies, due to allegedly playing a part in leaking Christian Horner’s ‘sexting’ messages. This event led to Max Verstappen, who’s a big supporter of Helmut Marko, singing a ‘if-Marko-leaves-I-leave-as-well’ tone, that heavily caught the team’s attention.

However, fast forward to today, it has come out that the 80-year-old Marko will not be suspended, which will surely keep Verstappen calm. But the tables now have turned against Christian Horner, as it is him who’s reportedly being shown the doors at Red Bull.

According to a latest report by F1 Insider, the Red Bull top officials, including the ’51-percent-owning’ Thai shareholders—who were previously backing Horner heavily—are set to release Christian Horner as Team Principal as early as before the 2024 Australian GP.

The report states the Austrian-based shareholders—Oliver Minztlaff and Mark Mateschitz—hasve successfully convinced their Thai counterparts to sack the scandal-hit Horner, with two major logical reasons: it could lose a big chunk of its US market share (where ‘boycott’ protests against Red Bull is increasing due to this affair), and due to the possibility of the ‘suspended’ female employee going public against the company.

But, on the other hand, another source claims that a Red Bull representative have denied Christian Horner’s dismissal, and quoted, “As Christian has already said, he is grateful for the full support of the shareholders, and that remains the case.”

From what SportsZion understands, all these rumors are just speculations for now, lacking solid proofs to back them up. Only time can reveal the truths of these ‘contradictory’ reports.

Amidst these rumors of being kicked out by Red Bull, Christian Horner has again come under fire by F1 fans, due to his recent remarks about wife Geri Halliwell.

Christian Horner’s Geri Halliwell remark angers F1 fans

Earlier yesterday on International Mother’s Day (UK-based), Christian Horner posted pictures of his wife Geri Halliwell and their children on Instagram, in an attempt to bring the motherhood role of the ex-Spice girl under the spotlight.

He uploaded the post with the caption that read: “Happy Mother’s Day – So appreciative of the mums in our family for everything they do. We’re always grateful, today and every day.”

However, the ‘scandal-hit’ Horner, eventually, saw himself come under the heat, as seen from the F1 fans’ comments on his post.

As soon as he uploaded the post, the fans expressed their disgust and anger over the man, claiming it to be a ‘double standard’ act. One F1 fan commented, “You ain’t fooling anyone bro”, while another IG-user wrote, “If you really were appreciative of your wife, you wouldn’t cheat on her, or better yet SA [sexually assault] another woman”.

Apart from these harsh comments, the post was also touched down with the ‘PR stunt’ tag, as seen in the comments below:

Christian Horner will now pack his bags, either to fly to Melbourne with the Red Bull crew, or out of the doors of Red Bull—depending on whichever report turns out to be true.

Will Christian Horner really be kicked out by Red Bull before the Australian GP? Or will he be carrying out his soap opera on Australian grounds as well? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.