Christian Horner has told Motorsport.com he is in no hurry to find another role on the pit wall.
Speaking at the Autosport Business Exchange in New York, Horner said he was in no particular rush to return.
“To be honest with you, I’m not in any particular rush,” Horner told Motorsport.com. “I’m happy just sitting on the periphery at the moment.”
The scale of what he walked away with explains the composure. Red Bull Technology’s 2025 accounts, reported by Crash.net, show Horner was paid £67m in severance plus a further £9.029m described as compensation for loss of office, taking the total package to just over £76m.
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What a return would need
Horner has set clear terms for any comeback. He told German tabloid Bild he had no interest in a midfield slog just to be seen in the paddock again.
“I’m not retired. I’m not finished yet,” Horner said in comments to Bild carried by The Judge 13.
“I don’t want to go to some midfield team just so I can be in the paddock every weekend. I’d rather mow the lawn at home, spend time with my family, and watch the race from the couch. Mediocrity isn’t for me.”
To Motorsport.com he put the same bar in competitive terms.
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“For me to go back, it would have to be for the right project. I wouldn’t want to go back just to take part.”
Red Bull has moved on without him
Horner was removed as Red Bull team principal and chief executive in July 2025, ending a 20-year run during which the team won eight drivers’ and six constructors’ championships. Laurent Mekies, previously in charge at sister team Racing Bulls, moved into the role with immediate effect.
Red Bull has now made that handover permanent. On 14 October 2026 the team confirmed that Mekies had signed a long-term contract extension through 2031 as team principal and chief executive, with Max Verstappen having won in Malaysia and Singapore in Red Bull’s first season as a power-unit manufacturer.
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