MILTON KEYNES, England (AP) Longtime Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was fired on Wednesday after a 20-year stint that included eight Formula 1 drivers titles and a rise to celebrity status.
Red Bull did not give a reason for the decision in a statement Wednesday, but thanked Horner for his work and said he will forever remain an important part of our team history.
Laurent Mekies of sister team Racing Bulls will replace Horner in his role as chief executive of the Red Bull team.
Horner had been Red Bull team principal since it entered F1 as a full constructor in 2005. He had performed his team and media duties as normal throughout the British Grand Prix last week.
Horner oversaw eight F1 drivers titles four for Sebastian Vettel and four for Max Verstappen and six constructors titles during his time with the team.
But McLaren has dominated this season in F1, while Red Bulls performance has dipped, though defending champion Verstappen remains third in the standings and the team is fourth.
Uncertainty for the future
Horner spent much of last week fielding questions over Verstappens future at the team after the Dutch driver declined to commit to stay with Red Bull for 2026. Zak Brown, boss of rival McLaren, told The Associated Press last week it would be a disaster for Red Bull if Verstappen were to leave.
Horner is the latest in a series of high-profile executives to leave the team over the last year and a half. Car design great Adrian Newey joined Aston Martin and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley departed for Sauber, which is soon to become the Audi works team.
The team also shuffled drivers, dropping Sergio Perez at the end of last season before a brief failed experiment with Liam Lawson as Verstappens teammate, before he was replaced by Yuki Tsunoda, who hasnt scored a point in five races.
We would like to thank Christian Horner for his exceptional work over the last 20 years, Oliver Mintzlaff, Red Bulls chief executive for corporate projects and investments said in a statement.
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.
The announcement comes more than a year after Horner was accused of misconduct toward a team employee.
An investigation conducted on behalf of the Red Bull company dismissed the allegation, as did a further investigation conducted after the employee appealed against the initial ruling, Red Bull said at the time.
Horner remained in charge of the F1 team throughout the entire process.
Red Bulls next challenge
Horners departure comes in the middle of the teams efforts to prepare for one of the biggest rule changes in F1 in decades next season.
At Racing Bulls, whose cars have sometimes outperformed the main Red Bull team this season, Alan Permane will be promoted from racing director to team principal to fill the gap left by Mekies.
The spirit of the whole (Racing Bulls) team is incredible, and I strongly believe that this is just the beginning, Mekies said in a statement released by Racing Bulls, which did not mention Horner.
Alan is the perfect man to take over now and continue our path. He knows the team inside out and has always been an important pillar of our early successes.
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AP auto racing:
英国米尔顿凯恩斯（美联社）——在红牛车队任职长达20年、期间带领车队赢得8次F1车手总冠军并跻身名流之列的领队克里斯蒂安·霍纳，于周三被解雇。
红牛车队在周三的声明中未说明这一决定的原因，但向霍纳（Horner）的工作致谢，并表示他“将永远是我们车队历史中的重要组成部分”。
红牛姊妹车队Racing Bulls的洛朗·梅基斯将接替霍纳，出任红牛车队首席执行官一职。
霍纳自2005年红牛车队以制造商身份进入F1以来，一直担任车队领队一职。在上周的英国大奖赛期间，他如常履行了车队管理和媒体应对职责。
霍纳在执掌车队期间，见证了八次F1车手总冠军的诞生——其中四次由塞巴斯蒂安·维特尔获得，四次由马克斯·维斯塔潘摘得——并带领车队六次夺得制造商总冠军。
然而迈凯伦车队在本赛季F1赛事中占据主导地位，红牛车队表现则有所下滑，尽管卫冕冠军**维斯塔潘**仍位列车手积分榜第三，但车队排名已跌至第四。
未来的不确定性
由于荷兰车手维斯塔潘（参考《新华社人名翻译规范》）拒绝承诺2026年继续效力红牛车队，霍纳上周大部分时间都在回应关于其未来去向的提问。竞争对手迈凯伦车队负责人扎克·布朗上周对美联社表示，若维斯塔潘离队，对红牛而言将是一场"灾难"。
霍纳是过去一年半里离开车队的又一位知名高管。汽车设计大师阿德里安·纽维已加盟阿斯顿·马丁，赛事总监乔纳森·惠特利则转投即将成为奥迪厂队的索伯车队。
车队还对车手阵容进行了调整：上赛季末弃用塞尔吉奥·佩雷斯后，曾短暂尝试让利亚姆·劳森与维斯塔潘搭档，但这一实验以失败告终，随后由角田裕毅接任——但这位日本车手在五站比赛中未能斩获积分。
红牛集团企业项目与投资首席执行官奥利弗·明茨拉夫在一份声明中表示："我们要感谢克里斯蒂安·霍纳在过去20年里的杰出工作。"
凭借其不懈的奉献精神、丰富经验、专业知识和创新思维，克里斯蒂安（Christian）为红牛车队成为一级方程式赛车中最成功且最具吸引力的车队之一发挥了关键作用。感谢你所做的一切，你将永远是我们车队历史上的重要一员。
这一声明发布之际，距离霍纳被指控对一名车队员工行为不当已过去一年多时间。
红牛公司当时表示，代表该公司进行的调查驳回了这一指控，而在员工对最初裁决提出上诉后进行的进一步调查也得出了相同结论。
霍纳在整个过程中始终负责管理这支F1车队。
红牛的下一个挑战
霍纳的离职正值车队全力备战下赛季之际——这将是F1数十年来最重大的规则变革之一。
本赛季，Racing Bulls车队的赛车表现时有超越红牛主队。艾伦·佩尔曼将从赛车总监晋升为车队领队，接替梅基斯留下的空缺。
梅基斯在Racing Bulls车队发布的声明中表示：‘整个（Racing Bulls）车队的拼搏精神令人惊叹，我坚信这仅仅是个开始。’该声明未提及霍纳。
艾伦是当下接手并延续我们发展道路的最佳人选。他对团队了如指掌，始终是我们初期成功的重要支柱。
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