Christian Horner: everything you need to know about Red Bull Racing’s team boss
Who is Christian Horner?
Christian Horner began his motorsports career as a driver. Horner grew up in a family involved in the auto industry. Horner’s grandfather was a purchasing manager at the Standard Motor Company in Coventry. After that position, Horner’s grandfather and father established an agency to supply parts to auto manufacturers in the Midlands.
Karting
Horner himself began his racing career in karts. After winning a Formula Renault scholarship in 1991, he competed in the British Formula Renault Championship in 1992. This season he became race winner and highest placed rookie. After this successful season, Horner switched to British Formula 3 and finished second in the Class B championship here for P1 Motorsport. This season he won five races. In 1994 and 1995, Horner switched to the Fortec and ADR teams. In 1996, he made the move to the TOM’S Team and also raced in British Formula 2.
Formula 3000
In 1997, Horner founded the Arden team in Formula 3000. The team was founded with borrowed money from outside parties and a loan from his father. Christian convinced P1 Motorsport founder Roly Vincini to become a race engineer. In 1998, Horner stayed in the F3000 and started driving with Kurt Mollekens. Kurt drove smoothly and at one point led the championship. During a pre-season test, Horner found that he could not keep up with the level and went on to focus on developing the Arden team.
formula 1
After several seasons in the F3000, Horner looked for the opportunity to enter Formula One. Red Bull bought the Jaguar F1 team in November 2004 and named it Red Bull Racing. Horner was appointed to lead the team in 2005. This made him the youngest team boss. With eight weeks of preparation, it was a surprise that the team still scored 34 points. The team achieved its first podium finish at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2006.
Vettel
In 2010, Red Bull Racing won its first constructors’ championship with one race not yet run. Sebastian Vettel became the youngest world champion on behalf of Red Bull Racing. This made Horner the youngest team boss to win a constructors’ championship. For the next three years, Vettel would also take the world title.
Max Verstappen
Nowadays, Red Bull Racing gets a lot of attention in the Netherlands because of the presence of the successful Max Verstappen. In 2021 and 2022, Verstappen became champion on behalf of Red Bull Racing, which caused a stir within the Netherlands. It was briefly rumored that Horner would switch to Ferrari in 2023, but he responded as follows:
