At the beginning of the year, team principal Horner was accused of alleged ‘inappropriate behaviour’ by a female colleague, which prompted an internal investigation into his conduct.
Following a probe and an appeal, Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing, and remained in his position at Red Bull.
Can Red Bull recover from their performance decline?
However, their issues have persisted on-track, with Red Bull’s performance declining as their rivals have gained an advantage in 2024.
Coupled with major exits from Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley, Jos Verstappen, father of champion Max Verstappen, has slammed Horner on a regular basis, even blaming him for the key departures.
In a recent interview, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher has countered Verstappen’s views and stated that these recent staff exits should not be blamed on Horner.
"I think when people have worked together successfully for so long, they want to improve their own position," he said to Sky Germany.
"But then there is no room for that in the existing environment. If they get financially interesting offers from outside, they start looking for something new.
"So I wouldn't associate this purely with Horner.
"[Late Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz] held those strings from the top down and always made it clear from the top down how things would go.
"That factor is definitely missing now. I think the team misses that and Horner misses that.
"Horner is someone with incredible experience and someone who does a great job, but he's also someone who, looking at last year, maybe was also a little bit overrated when he was left on his own."