Bernie Ecclestone brands Christian Horner an "idiot" for scandal

Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has called Christian Horner an “idiot” for the scandal which overshadowed his Red Bull tenure.

Horner was sacked as Red Bull team principal after 20 years in the role earlier this week in a move which has stunned the F1 world.

The dismissal follows months of declining form for Red Bull and also comes 18 months after Horner was accused of sexual harassment and coercive, controlling behaviour by a female employee.

Horner was twice cleared of the claims and always denied the allegations which prompted an internal power struggle and led to some key departures from Red Bull.

Ecclestone, who is one of Horner’s closest confidantes, was critical of the 51-year-old Briton when asked for his opinion on his friend’s firing.

“This business that he got involved with 18 months ago, he was just an idiot,” Ecclestone told The Telegraph. “He was a 50-year-old who thought he was 20, thought he was one of the boys.”

The 94-year-old business magnate went on to say: “I often wonder, when these situations happen, why if the girl is so upset with the advances of someone, they don’t just say, ‘Oi you, stop it’.

“It would probably have been better if they had said, ‘Come in, Christian, sit down.

“But the bottom line is that there are people there who thought he was getting away with things, that he was acting as if it was not the Red Bull Ring, but the Christian Horner Ring.

“He got away with so many things. And all the time you’re delivering, people close their eyes. But when you stop delivering, people start looking. One or two begin thinking, ‘Well, I could do a better job.”

Ecclestone examines Red Bull power struggle

Ecclestone also shared his views on the reported power struggles within the Red Bull camp, a battle Horner ultimately lost prior to his sacking.

“Genuinely, it was a little bit of a muddle,” he said. “Christian was the chief executive. If I’m the chief executive of a company, I want to be in charge.

“I want to do all the things that I think are right, and if I’m wrong, they can fire me, they can say, ‘Sorry, bye-bye, you made a few mistakes.’

“So, the minute Christian can’t be in that position to do what he thinks should be done, then for him it’s not easy.

“You can’t half-manage something. You need to have someone, I always say, to turn the lights on and off. You only really need one person.”

Ecclestone added: “I know it was suggested to him he should be a team manager and leave the commercial side to somebody else.

"His idea was, ‘I am the chief executive.’ [But] you get very few executives who can do everything, from engineering to public relations. He had been running the company the way he thought it should be run.

"For a long time, people were prepared to say, ‘OK, fair enough, he’s getting the job done.’ But as soon as you go off a little bit, people look and say, ‘Hang on.’

”Christian won a lot of championships. He was used to winning. So, it’s not easy when you’re not winning – and when you know that it’s not entirely your fault.”