{"id":121845,"date":"2025-11-06T22:38:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T22:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/121845\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T22:38:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T22:38:12","slug":"christian-horner-tried-something-you-cannot-do-in-modern-f1-before-he-lost-his-job-at-red-bull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/121845\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Horner tried something ‘you cannot do’ in modern F1 before he lost his job at Red Bull"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Follow us on Google Discover <\/a> <\/p>\n

Zak Brown has highlighted the importance of one dynamic present at McLaren that Christian Horner strongly opposed at Red Bull, leading to his demise. <\/p>\n

Horner\u2019s<\/a> sacking from his position as the CEO and team principal of Red Bull Racing<\/a> served as one of the biggest shocks of the year, given his long-standing tenure at the team that saw them achieve great success.<\/p>\n

The 51-year-old is currently on the hunt for his next venture in the sport, and, according to Martin Brundle, Horner\u2019s only demands are that he is brought on as an investor<\/a> alongside the trackside duties he will also be looking after. <\/p>\n

The reason for the British executive\u2019s terms comes down to the way he was ousted from his role at Red Bull. With a stake in the team, it will make it more difficult for a shock exit, like the one he received from the owners of the Austrian constructor, to occur again.<\/p>\n

Above all, Horner wants control, as he did at the Milton Keynes factory, but his formerly fierce rival, Zak Brown<\/a>, has highlighted the importance of delegation in an F1 team in his verdict on why McLaren<\/a> have emerged as a dominant force this season. <\/p>\n

READ MORE: What Red Bull factory workers are saying about the \u2018culture\u2019 at the team since Christian Horner left<\/a><\/p>\n

Zak Brown says McLaren\u2019s leadership dynamic is \u2018required\u2019 in modern-day Formula 1<\/p>\n

Speaking on a recent episode of the Beyond the Grid<\/a> podcast, Brown was asked about why the \u2018two-pronged approach\u2019 of having separate figures assume the roles of team principal and CEO works so well.<\/p>\n

The American executive replied, \u201cI think the size of these racing teams now, the amount of time, effort, commitment that is required to do what Andrea and I do, you cannot do as one person. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t in Mexico and I joined every team debrief, which Andrea [Stella]<\/a> joins. Normally, I don\u2019t because I can\u2019t; I\u2019ve got sponsor commitments, media commitments, shareholder commitments, and if I weren\u2019t there doing that, someone would need to do it. That would be in Andrea. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t be in two places at one time in a sport that is so competitive, so relentless. You can\u2019t leave anything on the table. You need to be 100% committed to everything you\u2019re doing. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when you look at our collective role profiles, not long ago, when Formula 1 teams were two, three, four or 500 people, usually the CEO or the team principal was also the owner of the team. But there are just too many responsibilities now. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the competition is too good to be in a position where if we\u2019re kind of 90%, when the whole field\u2019s covered by 2%, you\u2019ve got to give 100% in everything you do. Aside from that, I don\u2019t have his skills. I don\u2019t have Andrea\u2019s engineering background, understanding of the sport technically. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, if we reversed roles, even though we would all be totally dedicated to what we\u2019re doing, I\u2019m pretty sure the car wouldn\u2019t be as fast if I were touching it.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Jos Verstappen shares how Max Verstappen has changed since Christian Horner left Red Bull<\/a><\/p>\n

\"McLarenPhoto by Mark Sutton \u2013 Formula 1\/Formula 1 via Getty ImagesChristian Horner was adamant about being in control of every department at Red Bull<\/p>\n

One of the main reasons for Horner\u2019s sudden exit from Red Bull was due to the sheer amount of power he held within the day-to-day operations of the Formula 1 outfit. <\/p>\n

Despite the success they enjoyed between 2021 and 2024 with Max Verstappen<\/a> at the wheel, Horner was locked into a power struggle with Helmut Marko<\/a> behind the scenes. <\/p>\n

This is something that was experienced by a multitude of key figures within the Red Bull stable.<\/p>\n

Staff felt like Horner had changed his approach to management<\/a> in recent years, highlighting how he started making decisions that were beneficial to himself only, and acting like he was the team, rather than everyone else around him as well. <\/p>\n

CHRISTIAN HORNER\u2019S RECORD AS RED BULL F1 TEAM PRINCIPALGrands Prix entered406Wins124Podiums287Pole positions107Points8,009Drivers\u2019 championships8 (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)Constructors\u2019 championships6 (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2022, 2023)<\/p>\n

Before his eventual sacking, the 51-year-old conceded his control of the marketing department due to pressure from the company\u2019s Thai owners. Horner was adamant about continuing his role<\/a>, but eventually backed down after they threatened him with the sack at the time. <\/p>\n

Now that he is back on the market, it will be fascinating to see where the British executive will lay down roots next. <\/p>\n

Ferrari has been tipped as a potential destination for Horner<\/a>, but it\u2019s clear that he won\u2019t be able to follow through with his biggest demand of purchasing a stake in the team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover Zak Brown has highlighted the importance of one dynamic present at McLaren that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[55011,4262,111,139,69,11107,213,69104],"class_list":{"0":"post-121845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-christian-horner","9":"tag-mclaren","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-red-bull-racing","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-zak-brown"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}