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Christian Horner was once the youngest team principal among the big established names of Formula One leadership: Ecclestone, Briatore, Dennis, Todt. That was 19 seasons ago when Red Bull started, but now, at 49, he is the longest-serving boss in the game.
What keeps you going?
“Motivation,” he declares, at 9 a.m. in Bahrain, site of the opening grand prix of the 2023 season on Sunday. ‘I have never struggled for motivation. I am a competitive person. What we’ve achieved in the last two years is fantastic and now it’s all about keeping it going.’
To this end, Horner rises every day at 6.45am, goes for a brisk run from his north London home across Hampstead Heath and occasionally runs into Noel Gallagher.
He tries to make sure that one day a week he takes the kids to school. “Formula One can consume your life if you’re not careful,” she says. ‘It’s about balance. I am in the office from 9 am to 6:30 pm. I have an hour commute so I’m on the phone on both sides of that.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner is Formula One’s longest-serving team principal
Max Verstappen has won two consecutive titles and Red Bull looks like the team to beat this year
There are rumors about Red Bull. There have been years of construction, glory years, rebuilding years, and now glory years again. After a hiatus that followed Sebastian Vettel’s four titles between 2010 and 2013, Max Verstappen won back-to-back titles and he is likely to remain the team to beat this year. His form in preseason testing was sinister.
Reinforcing the feel-good factor, they have added Ford as a partner from 2026 and are developing their own engines in Milton Keynes, under the Red Bull Powertrains name.
“Having a start-up and hiring the best manufacturers in the world is no small feat, so I have a lot to motivate me,” says Horner.
Part of what could be described as the work-life balance that keeps his zest fresh is his country home in Oxfordshire, where he and his Spice Girls-famous wife Geri spend weekends, school holidays and summer, with his family and a growing team of horses.
“That’s where I’m able to tune out,” he muses. She reaches for her phone and shows me live CCTV footage from inside the stables.
“He’s awake, he’s ready for action,” Horner says, spotting an early riser among the seven horses. ‘We train them at home instead of sending them away. It’s nice for kids – they can help with the cleanup.
Horner and his wife Geri have a growing team of horses at their country home in Oxfordshire.
‘It’s just a bit of fun, but then again it’s competition. The best is Lift Me Up, named after one of Geri’s songs. It’s better than Stop Right Now. Shout if you want to go faster is already registered.
“Stop Right Now have won their last three races and have qualified for Cheltenham (in May), not the big Festival, but if they get two more decent results they will qualify for the Hunter Chase (at the Festival) next year.”
The Horners also have three dogs, a cat, chickens, four goats and four miniature donkeys. A couple of Westies, Bernie and Flavio, have sadly died. Speaking of Bernie, Ecclestone played the animal lover when Horner kept 200 lambs in a shed belonging to the farm next door.
He asked me what was going on. I said they were going to Waitrose. She didn’t like that. She asked me how much a farmer would get for each lamb, I told her £50-60. He paid £60 200 times to save them.
Verstappen was a guest at Geri’s 50th birthday party last year, an event delayed by the Queen’s death, though you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone less seduced by celebrity stardust than the Dutchman. Engines, rather than diamonds, are the lifeblood of the defending double world champion. What, I wonder, makes him a special talent?
“If you look at his first lap out of the test, Max is two and a half seconds quicker than any other driver,” marvels Horner, who last year turned down a huge offer to drive Ferrari.
‘His ability to go in and move on, I’ve never seen anything like it. There is no accumulation or ease to enter.
Verstappen allowed himself some downtime over the winter with family and friends, and photos of him and girlfriend Kelly Piquet together on the beach revealed a less trim body than the lean specimen in the paddock today.
“He lives for a little freedom in the winter because he knows he has to give 11 months of chicken and lettuce,” Horner reasons. He is a young guy and you need to give him that space. He is in great shape. He’s at his weight, and he did 160 laps on the first day of testing and looked fresh afterwards. He’s pretty straightforward in a lot of ways. He just takes the wheels off and it’s pretty smooth out of the car.
Everything seems to be rosy at Red Bull. Even mention of his regular training partner Toto Wolff, the Mercedes boss who is chalk in his cheese, is dropped. The Austrian claimed in a recent interview that he lives rent-free in Horner’s head. An answer? “I have no interest in that,” he says.
‘It’s a new season. I am concentrating on what I am doing. Competition is part of sport. I sleep well at night.