Former F1 team principal Christian Horner has been called “intensely competitive” by Sky’s Ted Kravitz, so much so he even wanted to “win out of every interview”.
Horner abruptly left Formula 1 in the wake of the British Grand Prix, when Red Bull announced he’d been relieved of his operational duties as Red Bull Racing CEO and team principal.
Ted Kravitz on Christian Horner: I was like, ‘OK, right – I assume the interview’s over’
More than two months later, Red Bull announced that the team and Horner had formally parted ways.
While exact financial details were not revealed, PlanetF1.com understands that a financial compromise, to a sum in the region of $100 million (£74.2m), was agreed with Horner. Furthermore, the compromise reached could free Horner up to return to Formula 1 by the second half of 2026.
Rather surprisingly, Horner’s exit was not met by cheers from his rival team principals despite their heated battles, both on and off the track.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown told Bloomberg: “I think he’s had a stellar career in Formula 1. His results are lots of Drivers’ Championships, [Constructors’] World Championships.
“I think when you get into sport, not everyone’s best friends… I’ve got my friends in pitlane and some that aren’t, but I think that’s what makes it exciting and it’s authentic and genuine.”
Toto Wolff also lamented the loss of his frenemy, saying, “In a way, I do [miss him]. Because him and I, we’ve been fighting for 12 years. He’s been a ****** very often, and I told him that.
“But you know, he was a very polarising, controversial person. He was one of the main actors in the cast here.”
But Brown and Wolff aren’t the only ones in the paddock who both appreciated and rued Horner’s presence.
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Speaking about the former Red Bull team boss’ “intensely competitive” nature, Sky’s pit lane reporter Kravitz told the Telegraph that Horner knew how to play the media game.
“He wanted to win out of every interview,” he said, “but he wants to win out of everything.
“When you know you’re in a game, that almost makes you try and throw that 90mph fastball or hit him with a lob shot, or bowl a googly that might elicit something.
“Now, Christian also knew that lots of people working at Red Bull were on the other side of the camera, and he wanted to be seen as fighting for them as well.”
Kravitz explained he tried for that fastball against Horner at the beginning of the year when Liam Lawson was clearly under pressure at Red Bull after a hat-trick of Q1 exits in his opening two race weekends.
Recording back-to-back P20s in sprint quali and qualifying for the grand prix at the Chinese Grand Prix, Kravitz quizzed Horner on his driver’s performances.
“I said ‘do you have a little problem with Liam?’ And he didn’t really give an answer. He just said, ‘Well, you know, it’s OK, we’ll address it.’
“Had he said ‘Well, it’s very interesting you say that. You know, Liam’s actually had an issue with turn six all week… he’s losing time, he’s actually not as slow as the times would suggest’… if you give a bit of an explanation and description for my viewer, then I would have thought, ‘OK, fair enough’.
“It was the way he said ‘we’ll take a look at it’. And I just instantly thought – ‘hang on, you didn’t pay off Checo [Sergio Perez] for this, did you? You wanted a quicker driver, is he not a quicker driver?’
“I think that’s word for word what I said, because it was just a human reaction in my head.
“And then he looked at me with that stare that I’ve become quite used to with Christian, and then sort of shut the interview down and said, ‘We’ll look at it, and then make a decision’.
“And I was like, ‘OK, right – I assume the interview’s over’.”
Kravitz and Horner may yet butt heads again next season with the 51-year-old speculatively linked to teams including Alpine and Aston Martin.
PlanetF1.com, however, understands he is not in active discussion to return to F1 with his focus currently on his family.
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