Christian Horner was fired primarily due to a significant drop in performance of the Red Bull Formula 1 team. Despite an exceptional 20-year tenure with eight world titles and a dominant 2023 season, Red Bull's results worsened over the past year and a half, including a collapse in winning streaks and struggles in the constructors' championship. This performance decline happened alongside internal turmoil, key staff departures, and tensions within the team management. Although Horner was accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior by a female employee in early 2024, he was cleared of these allegations after two separate internal investigations, and the team did not give this as a reason for his dismissal. The dismissal was reportedly a management decision led by Oliver Mintzlaff, and Horner was replaced by Laurent Mekies, focusing more on racing and engineering matters to try to restore the team's competitiveness.