Martin Brundle has curious Christian Horner theory as 'real team principal' unmasked

Martin Brundle believes he has considered Jos Verstappen as Red Bull's de facto team principal since the Dutchman called for Christian Horner to resign in 2024. The long-serving boss was dismissed ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, ending a 20-year reign.

Brundle also theorised that the Verstappen family would have been 'brought into' the decision-making process before Horner was dismissed. In Belgium, Max Verstappen stated emphatically that the exit would have no impact on the debate surrounding his Red Bull future. Verstappen Snr was a vocal opponent of Horner during the 2024 campaign. After the WhatsApp message scandal rocked the Red Bull team, the 53-year-old demanded Horner's resignation.

"There is tension here while he remains in position," Jos told the Daily Mail. "The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can't go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim when he is the one causing the problems."

According to Brundle, this was a turning point in the team and afforded Verstappen Snr greater influence on proceedings. "Absolutely," he told Sky Sports F1. "I think since Bahrain last year, I've almost considered Jos as the team principal of Red Bull.

"It's become a one-driver team, and I think that's something they've got to fix as well. But there's no way the hierarchy in Austria would have done this [without the Verstappens being made aware].

"The Verstappens would have bought into this. They wouldn't have been blindsided. So there's no way that Max will now be leaving the team because of that. They would have ensured that before they made that move with Christian."

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Red Bull replaced Horner with Laurent Mekies, who previously served as Racing Bulls' team principal. The Frenchman experienced a mixed first weekend on the job as Verstappen scored an unexpected sprint race victory, before ending Sunday's Grand Prix off the podium for the fourth time in the last six events.

Despite the frustrating race result, Mekies took the positives from the experience. "A positive is that the team is happy with the upgrade package," he said. "There is no question as to whether we brought performance to the car. We absolutely feel we did.

"Does it fix all the limitations in the car? No, but it is a step forward. After two weeks at the factory, trying to meet as many people as possible, it was nice to be with and be integrated into the race team and enter the race dynamic."