One year on from Christian Horner’s exit, Max Verstappen has never been unhappier ...Middle East

Christian Horner isn’t afraid to make a scene. His return to the paddock at Silverstone a year on from being axed by Red Bull in the wake of the last British Grand Prix certainly felt like no coincidence.

Horner’s argument was the race was a local one for him and he hadn’t missed it since 1993, but it felt very much like him declaring he was still here, relevant and available for the next Formula 1 opportunity.

Where that may be remains to be seen, but there have been links to Alpine, Aston Martin and even a new 12th team on the grid. Added to that came the announcement that Horner’s autobiography would be coming out in the autumn – a chance to tell his story in full.

But 12 months on from his post-Silverstone departure, where do Red Bull find themselves now?

If we wind the clock back to 2025, Max Verstappen had just endured a torrid race, spinning in the wet before eventually clambering his way back up to fifth. Two races later, he claimed his hopes of the title or even winning a race were effectively nil.

We know what happened in the intervening months and grand prix weekends as he came remarkably close to wrestling the drivers’ title away from Lando Norris.

If we wind the clock a year further forward in time at Silverstone, this specific weekend is infinitely worse.

Max Verstappen won't want to watch this one back! pic.twitter.com/sXj1MEWFiT

Verstappen has been spitting feathers about a Red Bull car with bad balance and a lack of pace down Silverstone’s lengthy straights, and he had the ignominy of finishing his weekend in the gravel trap after spinning off. His final words over the race radio: “F*** this car, unbelievable”, hardly painted a rosy picture of life at Red Bull.

The four-time world champion has never been afraid of making his feelings known on any matter. It is no secret he is not a fan of the new regulations and has threatened to walk away from the sport. With changes being implemented over those new rules, Verstappen has pulled back a little on that; but it does not necessarily mean he will be at Red Bull next season.

It’s becoming dangerous for me.” Max Verstappen was left frustrated once again after crashing out of the British Grand Prix pic.twitter.com/BxbDRWKwy3

We’ve been here before with links to other teams. In 2024, last season and early this he has been linked with Mercedes, none of that has ever come to fruition and that door now seems closed with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli cementing their places.

But Verstappen is effectively a free man. If he’s outside the top two – and he’s currently seventh – by the summer break at the end of July, he is free to go where he pleases next season. It has emerged that McLaren is now the likeliest destination.

Both parties have admitted to talks with Oscar Piastri going in the opposite direction and Lando Norris welcoming the arrival of Verstappen – the pair are close despite being rivals.

Verstappen has always been of the view that ideally he would see out his career at Red Bull and told the team’s founder Dietrich Mateschitz as much in one of their final conversations before his death.

I’ve always been of the view, when the rumour mill enters overdrive, that Verstappen would stay, so too when talk emerged of a potential hiatus from the grid next season. But this is beginning to feel different.

The star driver’s feared exit was once described as the worst thing that could happen to the team by Mateschitz’s son, Mark, now the wider Red Bull co-owner. That threat looms ever larger.

Now, what of the wider team on the anniversary of Horner’s exit? Life is certainly more peaceful in the sense that the public infighting among the top brass that was such a feature of his final years has ceased. So, in that regard things are better.

And the team’s competitiveness in 2025 clearly increased after Horner’s exit. Yet most of the car’s improvements that we have seen this season were put in place while he was still in charge, and the power unit built in-house for the first time – the quickest in the FIA’s eyes – was his pet project.

But Horner’s successor, Laurent Mekies, needs credit for bringing a more collaborative approach to running the organisation, particularly on the engineering side which is his background.

The arguing and paranoia have dissipated, but are the team better or worse off? It’s still too early to tell in terms of the car, given the lengthy lead times in F1, but there is no doubting this is a moment of great peril with Verstappen’s future hanging in the balance.

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