Red Bull chief Christian Horner has been sacked by the Formula One giants.

The husband of former Spice Girl, Geri Halliwell, survived in his role team principal last year after he was cleared of coercive behaviour towards his colleague.

Horner was twice cleared during internal investigations of wrongdoing.

Horner, 51, had been team principal at Red Bull since 2005, overseeing eight drivers’ world championships and six constructors’ world championships.

However, Red Bull’s form has slumped with four-time world champion Max Verstappen having won only two of the 12 races staged this season.

Verstappen finished fifth in Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone – a race which would turn out to be Horner’s last in charge.

Oliver Mintzlaff, Managing director of Red Bull GmbH, confirmed the axe had fallen on Horner with a brief statement.

It read: ‘We would like to thank Christian Horner for his exceptional work over the last 20 years. With his tireless commitment, experience, expertise and innovative thinking, he has been instrumental in establishing Red Bull Racing as one of the most successful and attractive teams in Formula 1.

‘Thank you for everything, Christian, and you will forever remain an important part of our team history.’

Horner will be succeeded by Laurent Mekies, who will take over the duties of CEO at Red Bull Racing, with Alan Permane, currently Racing Director, to be promoted to Team Principal at Racing Bulls.

‘The last year and a half has been an absolute privilege to lead the team with Peter,’ said Mekies.

‘ It has been an amazing adventure to contribute to the birth of Racing Bulls together with all our talented people. The spirit of the whole team is incredible, and I strongly believe that this is just the beginning.

‘Alan is the perfect man to take over now and continue our path. He knows the team inside out and has always been an important pillar of our early successes.’

Permane added: ‘I feel very honoured to take on the role as Team Principal and would like to thank Oliver and Helmut for the trust they have shown in me.’

Horner’s future has been under the microscope following one of the biggest scandals to engulf F1.

At last year’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Horner was cleared following an internal investigation into claims of wrongdoing by a female staff member at Red Bull, only for hundreds of WhatsApp messages, appearing to be exchanged between Horner and the complainant, were leaked to the F1 world.

Horner, married to Halliwell, fought on and was cleared internally on two occasions, but he lost a number of key figures at Red Bull, with design guru Adrian Newey, chief designer Rob Marshall and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley all departing.

Verstappen’s future at Red Bull has also been in the spotlight. His father, Jos, claimed in Bahrain a year ago that Red Bull would ‘explode’ if Horner remained in his role.

Verstappen went on to win a fourth consecutive world last year, but, despite being under contract until 2028, he has been linked with a move away.

Horner was subjected to boos at F1’s launch in London in February and McLaren CEO Zak Brown said in an interview the following month he would feel ‘vulnerable’ if he were in Horner’s shoes.

Brown said: ‘When I go and meet my board, I would not be feeling great because they would be going, ‘Well, why did he leave? Why did he leave? And why did he leave? Oh, and by the way, you didn’t seem to get a very warm welcome at the launch’. I don’t know how they feel. But I would feel vulnerable.’