Christian Horner branded an ‘idiot’ by close friend Bernie Ecclestone: ‘He thought he was 20’

Former F1 supremo Ecclestone, who was Horner’s best man at his wedding, was critical of the ex-Red Bull boss

Christian Horner has been labelled an “idiot” by his close friend, former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, after being dismissed as Red Bull boss on Wednesday.

Horner, 51, was relieved of his duties as Red Bull F1 CEO after 20 years at the helm, winning 14 world championships in total. Horner was replaced by ex-Ferrari engineer Laurent Mekies, formerly at sister team Racing Bulls.

Horner’s dismissal comes just over a year after allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” were levelled at him from a female colleague. Horner was cleared, twice, after two internal investigations.

Yet 94-year-old Ecclestone, who was Horner’s best man at his wedding to Geri Halliwell in 2015, believes the ex-Red Bull boss thought he was “one of the boys.”

“This other business that he got involved with 18 months ago, he was just an idiot,” Ecclestone told The Telegraph.

“He was a 50-year-old who thought he was 20, thought he was one of the boys.”

Horner fell out with senior bosses at Red Bull’s parent company based in Austria, as well as Max Verstappen’s father, Jos, which ultimately led to his downfall after two decades in the job.

“It would probably have been better if they [Red Bull] had said, ‘come in Christian, sit down’, but the bottom line is that there are people there who thought he was getting away with things,” Ecclestone, who ran Formula One for 40 years before selling the sport to Liberty Media in 2017, added.

“That he was acting as if it was not the Red Bull Ring, but the Christian Horner Ring.

Christian Horner is close friends with Bernie Ecclestone (Getty)

“He got away with so many things. And all the time you're delivering, people close their eyes. But when you stop delivering, people start looking.

“One or two begin thinking, 'Well, I could do a better job.'”

Horner led Red Bull to the last four drivers’ titles with Max Verstappen but are currently the fourth-quickest team on the grid at the halfway stage of the 2025 season.

Verstappen, who has been strongly linked with a move to Mercedes next year, is currently third in the drivers’ standings, 69 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri.

The next race is the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps (25-27 July).