When Christian Horner joined the newly branded Red Bull Racing team in 2005, he was the first of a new breed of team principals, lowering the age of the upper management on the pit wall by a considerable margin. Navigating the difficult waters of driver and teammate management, as well as handling the pressure from above as well, Horner has helped guide Red Bull from midfield pretenders to four-times world champions.

Biography

Horner’s first taste of motorsport was on the driver’s side, as the British racer participated in the national F3 championship. He moved up to F3000, creating his own squad called Team Arden, but only picked up a single point from two years of racing. Realising he was better outside the car than in, Horner called it a day in 1998. He turned his attention to team management, pushing Arden to win their first championship in 2002. Unfortunately, the title was stripped from driver Tomas Enge who had failed to pass a drugs test.

Undeterred, Horner repeated the championship success in 2004, with both driver and constructor’s title. Arden International expanded their offerings, now participating in Formula Renault 3.6, GP2 and GP3 with varying degrees of success.

Having caught the attention of Red Bull, Horner was promoted to Team Principal of their F1 outfit, upon their debut in the sport. Joining at the tender age of 32, Horner was the youngest team principal at that time.

Alongside chief designer Adrian Newey, Horner helped the team pick up their first podium in 2006 (forcing a dip in the Energy Station pool with very few clothes on), their first victory in 2009, and the first of four consecutive championships (driver and constructor) in 2010.