Red Bull Powertrains took its first grand prix victory on 4 October, when Max Verstappen converted pole into a win at the Bahrain Grand Prix, relocated to Sepang in Malaysia after the original April date in Bahrain was cancelled. The engine project Christian Horner had set up in 2021 was finally on top of the podium. He watched it from home.
“Nobody could take away the 124 wins and 14 championships, but I felt particularly hurt and robbed that I didn’t have the opportunity to see that [Red Bull-manufactured] Powertrains engine win,” Horner told The Guardian.
The pride came alongside the hurt.
“I felt very proud seeing what it meant to everybody and that they sent the Powertrains representative onto the podium.”
Read also: Vinicius Jr’s staggering new Real Madrid salary revealed after bumper contract extension
The project he started in 2021
Red Bull Powertrains was founded in 2021, when the team decided to build its own engine as Honda scaled back as a works partner. Ford signed on as the technical partner for 2026, and the project went from drawing board to race winner inside five years. Horner was dismissed before any of it reached the track.
“The startup engine business had been founded in 2021, and I was about to get it on the track when I left,” he said. “I felt great sadness at not seeing that engine in a car.”
He told the paper he had poured his heart and soul into Red Bull, which grew from under 400 people when he arrived in 2005 to 2,200 by the time he left.
Dismissed days after Silverstone
Red Bull announced Horner’s exit on 9 July 2025, days after the British Grand Prix, ending a two-decade run in which the team won eight drivers’ titles and six constructors’ championships. Laurent Mekies took over as CEO and team principal. Horner’s payoff, revealed in Companies House filings this month, was worth £100.482m.
Read also: Harry Kane surpasses Lionel Messi in remarkable Champions League milestone
He said he had texted Verstappen after Sepang.
“I had messages throughout the team and I texted Max after the race. He was very magnanimous and it was a landmark moment to see that engine win. It reinforced to me that, if you assemble the right people with the right culture and the necessary tools, anything is possible.”
Austin next, and the title is Antonelli’s to clinch
Verstappen has followed Sepang with a win in Singapore, and sits fourth in the drivers’ standings on 221 points. The championship, though, is not his to decide. Kimi Antonelli leads on 340 points, 102 clear of Mercedes team-mate George Russell, and arrives at the United States Grand Prix in Austin with his first mathematical chance to seal the title. Lights out at the Circuit of the Americas is at 3pm local time on Sunday, 25 October.
Read also: Erling Haaland to Real Madrid? Fresh transfer update emerges amid Man City uncertainty
