Yesterday at 07:25
Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer was caught by surprise at the timing
of Christian Horner's axing from Red Bull, but noted that the
former team boss was clearly "under pressure". Red Bull has lost
numerous senior figures across the past 18 months, including Adrian
Newey, Jonathan Wheatley and now Horner. Since Newey's departure
to Aston Martin in particular, the Milton Keynes-based outfit has
faced an increasing number of issues with its car. The current
RB21 often struggles on the opening day of a grand prix, resulting
in significant overnight changes in an attempt to please Max
Verstappen. Verstappen has fallen adrift of the title fight and
has been heavily linked with a move to Mercedes, who are expected
to enter the new power unit regulations with a strong package. Red
Bull has experienced a noticeable drop-off in performance since key
figures left, which Palmer is confident increased the pressure on
Horner. In the end, it was decided that change was needed after
the British Grand Prix, although Palmer did not expect the
announcement so soon after a race weekend. "Yeah, I mean surprised
at the timing," Palmer said on the F1 Nation podcast. "I think
there's been a lot of fallout at Red Bull the last 18 months. "So
there's been many, many high profile names leaving the team,
including Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley. And I think there was
a sense that with things falling away this year, Christian was
under pressure. "But I completely agree that the timing and the
suddenness of this post-Silverstone, I think it's caught everyone
off-guard. "I feel like it leaves Red Bull in a real tight spot as
well in terms of obviously Laurent stepping up, but it's a big job
for him, because Red Bull is such a different beast to the B-team."
