After more than two decades at Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner has revealed how difficult it was to watch Formula 1 from home for the first time, describing the frustration of losing access to the information and team he had been accustomed to for so long.
Christian Horner has opened up about the emotional and practical challenges of life away from Formula 1 following his departure from Red Bull Racing in July 2025.
After more than 20 years leading the team, the Briton was replaced by Laurent Mekies, bringing an end to an uninterrupted presence at Formula 1 circuits stretching back to Red Bull’s arrival in the championship.
Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Horner reflected on the sudden change in his routine, the sacrifices he had made throughout his career and the difficulty of watching his former team continue without him.
“The dogs have had a lot of walks. And I think it’s just a form of decompression. Gradually, you get the opportunity to take a step back,” he explained.
From the pit wall to the living room
Horner revealed that his first race away from the paddock came after attending 404 consecutive Grands Prix, making the transition to watching from home particularly uncomfortable.
“When I watched the first race, I’d been to 404 consecutive races. I’d never missed a Grand Prix. Since Red Bull came into the sport, I’d spent every race at a Formula 1 circuit.”
The demands of that schedule had also taken a considerable toll on his family life.
“I’ve missed my daughters’ birthdays, or important milestones in their lives. Even our honeymoon was the Monaco Grand Prix. So I’ve made an enormous amount of sacrifices in that respect.”
The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps was the first race weekend following his dismissal, and Horner quickly discovered how different Formula 1 appeared without direct access to the information available on the pit wall.
“Suddenly, you’re sitting there watching a race for the first time and thinking, ‘Shit, I’ve got no information!’ You’re relying on Crofty [Sky F1 commentator David Croft] and the other commentators, which felt completely unnatural to me because I was used to watching screens and data feeds without hearing the commentary.”
He also found himself turning to the Formula 1 app to follow the timing information.
“Suddenly, you’re trying to open a Formula 1 app to look at the sector times.”
“But compared to being at the centre of everything, sitting on the pit wall with all the information constantly coming in, it was really like, ‘Wow, this is so different!'”
Verstappen’s Spa Sprint victory brought mixed emotions
Despite no longer having an official role in the team, Horner initially found it difficult to disconnect from the championship.
During his first weekend away, he watched every practice session as well as the Formula 2 and Formula 3 races, remaining almost constantly in front of the television.
“That first weekend, I watched every practice session, every Formula 2 and Formula 3 race. I was literally glued to the television. And then Max won the Sprint at Spa.”
Max Verstappen’s Sprint victory came during the first race weekend following Horner’s replacement by Mekies.
Horner recalled receiving messages from people at the circuit about the atmosphere surrounding the result.
“I was getting lots of messages from the circuit telling me that nobody was celebrating.”
Beyond the sporting outcome, the experience reinforced the difficulty of watching an organisation he had spent more than two decades helping to build operate without him.
“It was strange, because they were your people and your team. They were the sponsors you’d brought in and negotiated those positions for.”
“It was really weird, because they’re your guys, it’s your team, they’re the sponsors you’ve negotiated with to have those positions. So it was a different experience.”
Horner gradually adjusts to life away from F1
Although his initial reaction was to follow almost every aspect of a Grand Prix weekend, Horner says his relationship with watching Formula 1 has gradually changed.
The need to follow every session and every development has faded, allowing him to establish a routine considerably different from the one he maintained throughout his Red Bull career.
“But over time, that’s passed, to the point where now I switch the television on just before the start of the race and, as soon as the podium ceremony is finished, I go and walk the dogs.”
For Horner, the transition from managing a Formula 1 team to watching from home has involved more than adapting to a different way of following the sport. It has also meant stepping away from an organisation that had shaped his professional and personal life for over two decades.
