Sky Sports F1 presenter Karun Chandhok has revealed that former Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner was responsible for his own downfall by handing too much power to "Team Verstappen."
Horner was ousted by Red Bull last week, and the reason for the decision has yet to be announced.Chandhok believes Horner's excessive reliance on Max Verstappen paved the way to his departure.
Red Bull's F1 car is suited to the four-time world champion to the extent that other drivers have found it challenging to adapt themselves to the car. Verstappen's current teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, is the third driver to race alongside him in the last year.
Sergio Perez, who raced alongside Verstappen in 2024, struggled to score points in the RB20. Verstappen went on to secure his fourth title with the same car. Following Perez's exit after the 2024 season, Liam Lawson took his seat in the RB21 for the current season, but was demoted back to Racing Bulls after just two races due to performance concerns.
Following Tsunoda's promotion to Red Bull, his performance has notably dropped, hinting at the probability of Red Bull's title challenger being Verstappen-centric. Chandhok believes Horner led a one-car team since it was only Verstappen who scored points consistently, while his teammates struggled with the car. This reportedly gave the Dutch driver excessive power within Red Bull. Speaking on The F1 Show podcast, Chandhok explained:
"I think in some of what's happened, if you look at it in recent years, it's become a one-car team, right? We've talked about how since Daniel Ricciardo left, the way the car design has gone, the way the team has been structured, it's very much all the eggs in the Max Verstappen camp and in that basket.
"And ultimately that's kind of created his downfall. It's put a disproportionate amount of power into 'Team Verstappen' to the point of which where, if you're the wider Red Bull group, you look at it and go, 'hang on a second, yes Max is on pole of the British Grand Prix, yes he's won two races this year, but the other cars nowhere.'"
Chandhok believes the excessive power held by Verstappen became evident, and it was Horner who came under fire for the kind of structure he created within the team. He added:
"And actually it's put a huge amount of power in Max's camp. If he leaves that team, they'd be fourth, fifth best on the grid at the moment.
"So I think that has been one of the feelings, and ultimately, Christian's got to carry the can for that, because he's the man in charge, he's led that philosophy of structuring the team in that way.
"Maybe it's happened by accident, but the reality is he's the man in charge, and I think there's a strong element of that is he's put a lot of power and faith into Team Verstappen. And I wonder if that ultimately comes back to bite him a bit."
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