In defence of Christian Horner

Spectator

10 hours ago

Christian Horner has very beady eyes. If you sit opposite him, his shark-like spotlights will dart around you, probably in the hope there's someone more important he can talk to, but also spying for threats and opportunities. His sacking as the team principal of Red Bull Racing after 20 years in the job has caught the paddock off-guard. We were at Eddie Jordan's memorial on Monday at Central Hall Westminster with F1 powerbrokers past and present and none of them knew this was coming. But Horner surely did, and I bet he's one step ahead.
Christian has faced more threats than opportunities during the past 18 months. There was the embarrassing leak of sexualised text messages to a personal assistant which proved, at the very least, that he is no Marquis de Sade, and an accusation of coercive behaviour of which he was cleared by an internal review. There was the pained smile of his Spice Girl wife of ten years, Geri Halliwell, as they walked hand-in-hand down the Bahrain paddock for the benefit of the photographers. And there was a fight for the future of Red Bull Racing itself: half-owned by the Austrian scion Mark Mateschitz and the Thai scion Charlerm Yoovidya, Horner persuaded Yoovidya, who has the 51 per cent casting vote, to back him. After all, if sexting your secretary is forgivable in F1 it's positively encouraged in Bangkok. But that support appears to have now dried up. Star driver Max Verstappen's father, Jos (a belligerent know-it-all), and Red Bull's minister without portfolio Dr Helmut Marko (whose presence Horner has long resented) have been conspiring for Horner's P45 ever since Verstappen and the team did the double in 2023, winning both the drivers' and constructors' world championships. You'd think that would have strengthened their bond, but something went awry.
This year's car, the RB21, is the team's worst since at least 2015, probably 2008. Why? Because the team have lost several key members, the most important being chief designer Rob Marshall (who left prior to sextgate and is achieving incredible results at McLaren), chief technology officer Adrian Newey (who's been given a chunk of equity in the Aston Martin team), and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley (who joined Sauber this season as team principal). The three drivers on the podium at last weekend's British Grand Prix were from McLaren and Sauber. Red Bull came fifth and last (though Verstappen was on pole position).
Why did these men leave Red Bull? Moral reasons, I don't buy. I've no idea what Christian was or wasn't doing with his PA but there has always been a code in this sport that what goes on on tour stays on tour, and Enzo Ferrari never even bothered to hide his mistresses.
Political instability, maybe. But most of my sources at Red Bull say the same thing: that Christian Horner was getting too big for his boots. He was taking too much credit for the cars and results. He was too pleased with himself for bagging a Spice Girl, being the pantomime baddie on Drive to Survive, and becoming irritatingly outré with his wealth. All that may be true, but Horner is still exceptionally competitive and driven. He is the longest serving F1 team principal of the modern era who, until now, has managed to defend against all attackers, and we haven't seen the last of him.
When Red Bull GmbH bought the lacklustre Jaguar Racing team in 2004, the Milton Keynes outfit were seven out of ten in the standings. In 2005, Red Bull Racing's first season, Horner was the youngest team principal in history at 31 – nearly three years younger than his lead driver, David Coulthard. You can imagine the grandees on the pitwall, like McLaren's Ron Dennis, Ferrari's Jean Todt and Williams' Sir Frank Williams wondering if it was bring your kiddie to work day. Over the next few seasons, though, Horner proved he should be taken seriously, and in 2009 his team started winning. The company grew exponentially both in terms of employees and revenue. Over the last 15 years only Mercedes – run by his TV nemesis Toto Wolff – edges Red Bull for championship success.
Let's compare Horner with the six team principals who've lorded it over Ferrari since 2005: He has won 124 grands prix, six constructors' titles and eight drivers' titles compared with the 65 wins, two constructors' and one drivers' championship that Ferrari has achieved in the last 20 years, and which required the combined efforts of Jean Todt, Stefano Domenicali, Marco Mattiacci, Maurizio Arrivabene, Mattia Binotto and current incumbent Frederic Vasseur.
No, Horner is not solely responsible for Red Bull's success. Perhaps he wasn't as important to the mix as Newey, Wheatley and Marshall, or Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen. But he was the man who brought all of those ingredients together. He is the Alain Ducasse of F1 chiefery.
What will make his next move harder is he doesn't have many friends. He's pissed off a lot of people in this industry and beyond. He is also finally a victim of the footballisation of grand prix racing. There's a reason why Ferrari have gone through six team principals in two decades: Most TPs don't have a shareholding in their teams. Toto is a rare example. But go back 20 years and beyond and most did. Many had their names above the door – Williams, Jordan, Tyrrell for example. They weren't mere employees who could be dismissed after a string of bad results. Now F1 TPs are like football managers: a couple of bad seasons and it's time to get your coat. In a very complicated sport that sometimes requires years for regulatory and senior staff changes and even things like wind tunnels to properly embed – and everyone talking about five-year plans – short term fixes rarely translate into long term results. Look at the mess the French have made at Alpine. They've had four changes of team principal in four years.
Since the news of Horner's termination was announced, bookies have cut the odds of Max Verstappen leaving Red Bull to join Mercedes for 2026. Whether Horner's exit will make the Verstappens wish to stay or go remains to be seen. It probably hinges on how good or bad next year's Red Bull/Ford power unit it. Perhaps that's what's caused Christian's firing, because there's speculation it's a bag of bolts and the Merc-engined cars will be well up the road.
Cadillac are entering F1 next year and already have a team principal in Graeme Lowden (ex-Virgin/Marussia) who is building the new outfit's foundations. Horner would raise expectations were he to take over, and perhaps he could do for General Motors what he did for Dietrich Mateschitz, but that'd require starting at the back of the grid and taking a pay cut, which would go down like a cup of cold sick. No, it's much more likely Horner is thinking about Ferrari $$$$$.
Fred Vasseur is rumoured to be getting the chop at the end of this year. Horner doesn't speak Italian, which is far from ideal, and such is his flair for rubbing people up the wrong way it is highly unlikely Lewis Hamilton would be willing to work for him. Despite this, my sources tell me that Ferrari's door is open, and Geri wouldn't say no to a Tuscan castello and an entrée to even higher society, for the prancing horse affords greater status than the bull off the drinks can. Is it a good idea? Almost certainly not. But that doesn't mean it won't happen – this is Ferrari were talking about.
Such is Horner's ego and aggressive character, he'll be looking for revenge. And equity – which Ferrari won't give. Aside from Ferrari and Cadillac, there's Alpine and there are rumours about Hyundai coming in. He has the skills to turn Alpine around and to make a new team hit the asphalt with minimal wheelspin. Horner wants to win and get rich and famous doing it, and I don't think he's any less hungry than he was when I first met him 20 years ago.Back then, I was the one looking over his shoulder for someone more important to talk to.