Lewis Hamilton’s Belgian GP weekend got off to the worst possible start as the seven-time World Champion suffered a shock elimination in SQ1 for the Sprint event. It marked the first time since the introduction of the Sprint format that a Ferrari driver had failed to progress past the opening session — an unwanted record Hamilton certainly did not expect to own.

While the reason for Horner's ousting has not been revealed, Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko has pointed out that performance concerns led to his exit, and that the decision was taken by the managing director of Red Bull GmbH, Oliver Mintzlaff. Newsweek Sports reported his comments: