Red Bull team boss Christian Horner revealed what has changed in Formula 1 over his 20 years in the sport amid the sport’s drama and controversies.
Horner started with Red Bull from the team’s inception, putting together the entire staff and facilities.
While he is never shy about speaking his mind, Horner is a proven winner, collecting six constructors’ championships and eight drivers’ championships.
It takes a team effort to have as much success as Red Bull has had. Horner’s ability to put together winning racing teams is on the level of other great team principals.
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When he first broke into the sport, some of the most cutthroat people in F1 surrounded Horner and taught him what it takes to win.
“When I came into the sport, sitting around the table was Bernie Ecclestone running it with Max Mosley [FIA President],” he told PlanetF1.com in an exclusive interview.
“You had Ron Dennis running McLaren, Frank Williams at Williams, Jean Todt at Ferrari, and Flavio Briatore running Renault. Eddie Jordan was still around when I first started, and they were big personalities and big characters.
“Yes, there were always disagreements, but there was a commonality of agreeing on what was right for the business and what was right for the sport, because they were all relatively entrepreneurial.
“Whereas nowadays, you look around the room and, save for a few, it’s largely a bunch of managers, as opposed to perhaps that entrepreneurial spirit that existed previously.
“There were always rivalries; I mean, Jean and Ron never particularly saw eye-to-eye, but there was always respect that, sometimes, I think is a little lacking these days.”
Horner is known for getting into it with other team principals on the grid, whether it is McLaren boss Zak Brown or Mercedes’ Toto Wolff – he never backs down from a fight that helps his team.
These conflicts have grown intense over the years, with mudslinging from all parties.
The fights grew most intense during 2021, when Horner and Wolff went at it every week. Things haven’t cooled down in intensity since then.
While Horner highlighted the lack of respect from others, he believed that history remembers winners, not those who receive the most respect.
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