Bernie Ecclestone: Much was forgiven to Horner

      Bernie Ecclestone has his own explanation for the current events happening at Red Bull, where Christian Horner has been stripped of all his positions he held for many years.

      "Who else has achieved as much in Formula 1 as he has?" said the former head of the world championship management in an interview with the London newspaper The Telegraph. "And this is only about results. Very few team leaders understand everything, from engineering issues to how to deal with the press."

      He led the company as he saw fit. For a long time, people were willing to agree: "OK, accepted, as long as he's getting the job done." But as soon as small difficulties arise, these same people say: "Stop!"

      Christian has won many championships; he's used to winning, so it's tough for you when you stop winning races, especially knowing that it's not only your fault."

      At the same time, Ecclestone readily condemned his long-time friend and associate for essentially setting himself up when last winter he found himself at the center of a scandal, providing grounds to accuse him of "improper conduct."

      "As for the story he's involved in from 18 months ago, he was just an idiot," Bernie continued. "He's 50 years old, yet he decided he's still 20 and behaved like a kid. When these kinds of situations occur, I’ve always wondered: if a girl is insulted by some advances, why not just say: 'Stop!'"

      It might have been better if the management at Red Bull had said: "Christian, let's calmly discuss everything." But the point is, there are people who believe Christian acted as if it was not the Red Bull team, but Christian Horner's team. Many things were forgiven to him. But people are willing to turn a blind eye when you’re delivering results. When you stop delivering results, people start to see clearly. And someone might begin to think they could do better...

      Certainly, discord has begun at Red Bull, and Christian was the head of the team. When I hold the position of CEO of a company, I want to be responsible for everything; I want to do everything as I see fit. And if it turns out I’m wrong, I can be fired, told: "Sorry, goodbye, you made many mistakes."

      In general, the moment Christian could no longer do what he thought was necessary, things became complicated for him. You can't run a company halfway. I always say, you need someone who turns the lights on and off. Leadership should be centralized.

      As far as I know, they offered him to stick to the role of team principal, transferring commercial matters to someone else. But he believed it was necessary to also be the head of the company.

      As long as Dieter Mateschitz was alive, who was the real boss, he would have felt that problems were starting in the company. He would have decided to intervene, get everything sorted out, and resolve it all...