In 2005, when an energy drinks manufacturer, keen to have their brand associated with high octane adventure sports, decided to enter motor racing as outsiders in an environment dominated by legacy automobile companies, they hired an outsider to run the ship too.
At 31, untested and relatively unknown, Christian Horner joined the high table of Formula One as team boss at Red Bull Racing. Motorsport legends like Ron Dennis at McLaren and Jean Todt at Ferrari became overnight contemporaries. A highly politicised sporting environment became his home. Fierce competition, cutthroat margins, intense public scrutiny became an everyday reality.
19 years, seven drivers championships, and six constructors’ titles later, Horner stands as the longest serving team principal in the paddock. Beneficial high-power partnerships, an aptitude for racing strategy, and a ruthless management style have allowed him to excel in an unusual sport.
He has shaped the careers of some of the most successful drivers of this century, and built a team that is currently enjoying one of the most dominant runs in F1 history. His personal charisma, seen in detail in Netflix’s reality-show style docuseries ‘Drive to Survive’ and his regular appearances at social events alongside his popstar wife, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, has given him a public profile equivalent to some of his drivers.
Yet, over the past month, all of that has threatened to come crashing down. Accused of “inappropriate” and “controlling” behaviour, the team’s parent company, Austria-based Red Bull GmBH, announced an internal inquiry into what they deemed to be serious allegations last month.
A lack of transparency allowed the rumour mill to take over, and what had begun as reports of complaints with his aggressive management style were later reported, by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, as accusations of sexual misconduct.
On Wednesday, the company announced the conclusion of its inquiry, and gave Horner a clean chit as he joined the team for the first race weekend of the year in Bahrain.
Less than 24 hours later, though, as attention finally seemed to have shifted to action on the track, screenshots and images that were allegedly used as evidence during Horner’s inquiry were leaked in emails to journalists, team bosses, and the sport’s executives from an anonymous email id. The leaks eventually began doing the rounds on social media.
The leaks have proven to be a damning setback for Horner — who has maintained his innocence throughout the process — especially given the magnitude of the allegations, that have put into question how Horner has been allowed to continue to function in his role as team boss, as well as CEO of each of Red Bull’s three racing units, during the process.
Horner has always benefited from personal relationships with important figures. Foremost of these was with Bernie Ecclestone, long-time chief executive of F1.
Horner grew up well, in the town of Leamington Spa in the UK. Racing had never been in his DNA, but car-manufacturing was. His father sold car components to manufacturers in England in a business that was inherited from his grandfather. After a short stint in lower leagues of motor racing, Horner quickly gave up on a career as a driver and began one as a team manager.
Bernie Ecclestone connection
He was first noticed when he was running a team in the lower-rung F3000 series, then owned by Ecclestone. When Red Bull was looking into taking over the erstwhile Jaguar team to enter F1, it was Ecclestone who effectively lobbied for Horner to take the reins and floated his name to the Austrian company’s founder and co-owner, Dietrich Mateschitz.
Mateschitz entrusted him alongside Helmut Marko, the Austrian’s motorsports adviser with whom Horner had a pre-established relationship during his F3000 days. According to a 2011 interview with Motorsport magazine, Horner said the job had been offered to him through Marko. The latest email leak has further expanded rumours — again not helped by the lack of transparency in the process — of an apparent rift between Horner and Red Bull’s senior management after Mateschitz’s death last year. Horner is said to have also fallen out with Marko.
Despite reaching the seat of power with Marko heading the team’s young drivers programme, Horner would not have been able to steer Red Bull to the summit of the sport without courting car designer Adrian Newey from McLaren to become the upstart team’s chief technical officer. Newey had attended the same school as Horner, and the two got along instantly and having already established himself, his work with Red Bull has made him the most successful car designer in F1 history.
It was Newey’s innovative design that made Red Bull the formidable car it was when it won four straight drivers and constructors titles between 2010 and 2013 with Sebastian Vettel in the cockpit. The team’s current dominance is also down to Newey acing the latest technical regulations, handing Max Verstappen the perfect car, suited to his strengths, utilizing his generational driving talent to steer him to three consecutive drivers titles. Last year, when Red Bull won 21 out of 22 races and Verstappen alone won 19, is perhaps the most dominant single season for one constructor.
This year, Horner and Newey have attempted to rectify what is their one weakness — slow-speed corners on narrow circuits of the kind in Singapore, the only venue they did not win at last year — with another bold design of this year’s vehicle, the RB20. They topped the charts in pre-season testing, despite the entire off season being dominated by the investigation.
While it is too early to judge whether the controversy will have any bearing on race pace, at best, it’s an unwelcome distraction. Even when Horner was cleared internally, he remained on shaky ground with no information about his defence, the allegations, or the process. The leak has now crushed the ground under him.
Red Bull’s team structure is such that replacing Horner will require an entirely new leadership team, and there remains no clarity on whether Newey will stay if Horner leaves. Yet, it’s a decision that the team may have to resort to as scrutiny intensifies in the coming weeks.
Horner rose to prominence thanks to his strategic and important relationships, and understanding of the finer details of F1. But now, his position in the team that he built, and the sustained run of dominance he has cultivated, remain under threat.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner stands in his team garage during a practice session ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir, Bahrain on March 1. (AP Photo) 
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