This is supposed to be the era of manufacturer-led Formula 1. A sport dominated by the mega-buck operations set up by vast global entities such as Toyota and Honda, to promote their brands and boost their reputations in markets stretching from the US to China.
Yet it is one of F1’s few remaining independents making the biggest wave at the moment. Fuelled by seemingly bottomless reserves of marketing dosh, Red Bull Racing has in one fell swoop become a genuine contender for future F1 glory by coaxing superstar aerodynamicist Adrian Newey away from McLaren and into the energy drinks emporium.
The cheques may be signed by Dietrich Mateschitz, a man who reportedly makes 60p on every can of the caffeine-laced beverage consumed (and there were half a billion sold last year), but ultimately the person who persuaded arguably the biggest name in F1 outside of the driver market to join the team was a 32-year-old with less than a year’s experience of F1 team management: Christian Horner.
When Horner was given the role of sporting director at RBR, there were many senior F1 insiders and pundits who scoffed. He was a rich kid who’d played at being a team boss in Formula 3000 with daddy’s money and was now installed as Mateschitz’s puppet. Sure, his Arden International team had been successful, but F1 is a big boy’s game. He’d be gone before the end of the season, they reckoned, chewed up and spat out by F1’s self-styled Piranha Club.
Nine months down the line, Horner is not only still in charge, but he’s landed the biggest coup in recent years and succeeded where Jaguar and Williams had failed before him by luring Newey away from Ron Dennis and the gleaming, precision-tooled McLaren. It’s as amazing as it seemed unlikely and Horner, who remains one of the most approachable team bosses in the sport, is justifiably pleased with his achievement.
“I think that everybody can see the aspirations Red Bull have,” he says. Ever the diplomat, Horner always speaks in the context of the team, rather than giving himself credit as it must be tempting to do. “The way we’ve gone about our business this year, it’s been evident for all to see that we’re serious about what we want to achieve.”
What’s been achieved already has been pretty impressive. While Newey is undoubtedly the star name, he’s just one of a number of key personnel Horner has attracted to the team. Of course, the Red Bull cash has given him a strong bargaining tool – Newey is rumoured to be on $10million (£5.5m) a season – but much like the way Jose Mourinho has wisely invested Roman Abramovich’s fortune in building a team at Chelsea, Red Bull is being transformed into a serious frontrunning outfit.
Ex-Renault designer Mark Smith was snatched from Jordan to take the role of technical director, while Anton Stipinovich came over from Ferrari to head up the R&D department. Another indication of the team’s seriousness was the switch to Ferrari V8s for next year, and the highly respected Tim White has joined from Ilmor to oversee that engine programme.
How Smith’s relationship develops with Newey could well be key to the ultimate success of the team, but for the moment Horner is optimistic that theirs will be a positive relationship not sullied by overlapping egos. Horner prides himself on his man-management skills and these will be more important than ever as he continues to assemble a backroom line-up capable of delivering the success the team has targeted.
"While we were based at Prodrive, I learned a lot – it was a good insight into how a large, successful motorsport company operated and the man management and delegation that David was excellent at" Christian Horner
“The lessons that I learnt and the principles that I put into place at Arden I have replicated here,” he says. “It is a people sport. It’s putting the right group of people together, supporting them and getting them to work collectively to a common target. This is not rocket science – it’s about the basics and getting the basics right.”
The man-management ethos stems from his relationship with David Richards. From 1999 until the start of this year, Horner ran Arden out of rented offices on Prodrive premises. Although there was no direct link between the two operations, Horner admits he acquired knowledge just from spending time with Richards.
“David is a family friend and has offered me sound advice during my career, and we enjoy a good relationship and speak reasonably often. While we were based at Prodrive, I learned a lot – it was a good insight into how a large, successful motorsport company operated and the man management and delegation that David was excellent at. But I have my own style of doing things and that’s worked for me and the Arden company, and hopefully it will work for Red Bull Racing.”
It's all a long way from Jaguar Racing and the mistrust and ill feeling that brewed when the team’s future was cast into doubt. Ford’s decision to pull the plug after five years of inept corporate decision-making robbed the team of any hopes of achieving the results that were demanded by the budget it drained from the company coffers.
When Red Bull took over last November, morale had hit the deck. There was the belief that the Tony Purnell/David Pitchforth partnership was going places. But before the British racing green had even been swapped for Red Bull silver and blue on the headed paper, they were out the door and Horner was in charge.
When the 2005 season started strongly, with David Coulthard coming close to a podium finish in Australia, the plaudits were given to the old brigade. The RB1 was just the R6, all Red Bull was doing was showing how wrong Ford had been to give up on the project just as good times were around the corner.
But as the season wore on, the car kept its pace. Points came in almost every round, and it was no longer a novelty to see DC or Christian Klien hounding the Ferraris, Williams or BARs, rather than filling the void somewhere between Sauber and the back of the field as the Jaguars often did.
“If you look at how Red Bull Racing’s debut season compares with Jaguar’s, I think we achieved credibility, but it’s now about moving on from that,” says Horner. “Ultimately we still finished seventh in the world championship, which isn’t what my target is and it’s certainly not Dietrich’s. And Adrian Newey isn’t coming here to compete for the top five in the world championship. He’s a competitive guy, he’s won more than 100 races and 12 world championships and that’s what we’re targeting.”
Horner is at pains to point out that Newey’s impact on the 2006 car will be negligible, that his focus will be on the 2007 model, but it’s worth noting that in the few months after his enforced ‘gardening leave’ finished in 1997, the new front wing he designed transformed the McLaren MP4-12 from a frontrunner to a race winner… So anyone thinking DC’s win tally was going to stop at 13 may be forced to reconsider.
“David’s won every grand prix of his career in one of Adrian’s cars,” Horner states. “They enjoy a good relationship and David’s done an excellent job in leading the team for us. He’s motivated and driving very well at the moment. I’m pleased with the job that he’s done and I certainly hope he’ll continue to demonstrate the type of performance he has shown this year.”
But there is one glaring hole in the package at the moment. Newey/Smith/Ferrari plus the new Bedford wind tunnel opening next month – these are the ingredients for success. But Coulthard/Klien? Good though they undoubtedly are, they don’t strike the same chord as Raikkonen/Montoya. But of course, a certain M Schumacher’s Ferrari contract is up at the end of 2006. Could the seven-time champion be tempted to get his wings for one final payday?
Horner laughs at the notion, but without ever denying it: “We signed the Michael Schumacher of the technical world in Adrian. It would all depend on motivation and if the timing was right, so it’s a difficult question to answer. But our focus is on our current drivers for the time being. We’re happy with them and we’ll evaluate things as they evolve.”
At 32, Horner is the youngest team boss in the paddock, and by some way. Standing next to Ron Dennis, Flavio Briatore and the others he looks slightly out of place, like a first year who’s snuck into the sixth form common room. But periodically F1 goes through these transitions, times when the old guard make way for the new. And while no one who really understands the sport believes that one bad season means Schumacher is a bad driver, it is now abundantly clear that in Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso there is a new wave of talent equal to, if not greater than, the old master.
"I’m not the new Ron Dennis or Jean Todt. My name is Christian Horner and whatever I’m going to achieve will be under my own guise" Christain Horner
This year F1 has already waved goodbye to Eddie Jordan, Peter Sauber and Paul Stoddart – and Horner could be the man knocking on the door with the wake-up call that convinces a few others to take a step back and enjoy the fruits of their labours rather than continue the 19-race slog around the world.
“I’m not the new Ron Dennis or Jean Todt. My name is Christian Horner and whatever I’m going to achieve will be under my own guise,” he states emphatically when it’s suggested that he’s heralding the new wave. “I’m a young guy, I’m competitive and hungry to achieve success, and I’m grateful to Red Bull for giving me the backing to make it happen.
“Red Bull has been a very positive asset to F1 with the activities that have happened off-track and also on-track. We’re incredibly serious about what we do, but there’s no reason we can’t have a bit of fun along the way. If people enjoy what they do, they do it that bit better.”
Having Newey setting the technical agenda should give the team all the motivation it needs. With the foundations that are now in place, success will be expected, and quickly. Horner has done a great job in assembling the cast, but now he has to direct the blockbuster. For F1’s newest player, the hard work has only just begun.
How Horner fared as a driver
It’s fortunate that Horner turned out to be a capable team boss, because his career behind the wheel was on the road to nowhere. A couple of sixth-place finishes during Arden’s first year were the pinnacle of a career that encompassed three seasons of British F3 and two in F3000.
Alan Docking ran Horner in F3 in 1995. “Christian certainly had a lot of enthusiasm for his racing,” he recalls. “He was good at organising people, but his racing lacked the killer instinct. He wanted it badly, but he just wasn’t tough enough.”
Horner, who stopped racing in 1998, made a track return earlier this year [2005] driving a Ford Galaxie in the Goodwood Revival. It hasn’t prompted thoughts of a return…
“I was a respectable driver but nothing more,” he says. “I raced against a lot of the current guys – Juan Pablo Montoya, Nick Heidfeld, Giancarlo Fisichella, Pedro de la Rosa – and I was OK, but I recognised from reasonably early on that my future was outside the cockpit. But it served to be a very useful education for me.”
