Senior Red Bull Engineer Still ‘Shocked’ After Christian Horner’s Departure

Red Bull Racing’s chief engineer, Paul Monaghan, has played a key role within the team since its inception in 2005, and he was left shocked by the departure of former boss Christian Horner.

Horner hired Monaghan as a key official within Red Bull, developing several race-winning cars.

Red Bull won eight drivers’ titles and six constructors’ championships under Horner’s leadership.

Despite the achievement, after months full of controversy over the last couple of years, the successful team principal was removed from his post.

After a whirlwind series of events at the team, Monaghan addressed Horner’s departure.

“To tell the truth, it was a shock to me. Sad. Christian has put a large chunk of his working life into the team, and altogether as a team, we’ve enjoyed a huge amount of success, perhaps unwarranted to some views,” Monaghan told the media at the Belgian Grand Prix.

“But anyway. What is done is done. So thank you to Christian for everything he did, personally for me and for this team.

“Laurent’s got a difficult situation to be dropped in,” he said. “I’ve known him for many years. Very personable. Smart chap.

“So now it’s up to us to pull together as a team, because nine other teams can’t wait to fight us. So if we’re going to stand up to them, we’re going to have to stand as a team.

“We are prepared to stand as a team. Laurent is doing his utmost to ensure that is what we are aiming to do. And yeah, we’ll do so.”

Just last season, the chief engineer signed a contract extension which will see him stay at Milton Keynes, along with technical director Pierre Wache, head of aerodynamics Enrico Balbo, and head of performance engineering Ben Waterhouse.

Monaghan is a part of the Red Bull technical team, which is under fire for the car’s recent performances.

More news: Max Verstappen Backed Christian Horner Days Before Red Bull Sacking

The energy drink racing team dominated the 2022 and 2023 seasons, but midway through the 2024 season, McLaren made notable strides while the Red Bull car started to stagnate in terms of development.

This season, Max Verstappen is firmly out of the running for a title challenge, and the team’s other driver, Yuki Tsunoda, struggles to get the car consistently into Q3.

Assuming Monaghan stays for the post-Horner era, he will need to help turn around an engineering setback if the team wants to return to glory.

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