Christian Horner couldn't resist celebrating Red Bull's landmark moment in Malaysia, even though he's no longer in charge at the team. Max Verstappen's victory on Sunday marked the first win for Red Bull Powertrains as a manufacturer, a genuinely historic achievement that took just five years from the project's inception to reach the podium top step. The former Red Bull boss, who played a key role in getting the power unit division off the ground, took to Instagram to congratulate everyone involved in making it happen.

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Verstappen absolutely dominated the race, leaving the Mercedes pair of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell in his dust. Russell's late retirement helped shuffle the finishing order, but there's no denying Max was the class of the field on the day. For Horner, who steered Red Bull from its earliest days in Formula 1 and championed the move to create their own engines when Honda pulled out, seeing the team succeed with their own power unit must have felt pretty special.

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Horner's message on Instagram summed it up nicely, calling it an incredible achievement and acknowledging the hard work that went into building a factory from scratch and recruiting top talent behind the scenes. Red Bull made the decision to build their own power division when Honda initially decided not to continue beyond 2025, though the Japanese manufacturer has since reversed course and linked up with Aston Martin instead. The partnership with Ford helped make the whole thing viable.

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These days, Horner's focused on his next move in the paddock. He's made no secret he wants to return to Formula 1, but only as someone with ownership stake and strategic input. The only exception he'd make is Ferrari, calling it the dream job where he'd accept a role purely as an employee. He's not in any rush though, comfortable enough to wait for the right opportunity while occasionally throwing shade at rivals from the sidelines.

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