Christian Horner has spearheaded Red Bull’s F1 success (Image: Getty)
has now been the team principal of for over 20 years, and during that period, the Oxford-born executive has overseen unimaginable success despite some scepticism when he first took the role.
The 51-year-old initially pursued a motorsport career in the cockpit, competing in the International Formula 3000 series with Arden Racing – a team which he founded – in 1997 and 1998. However, after scoring just one point in two seasons, he hung up his racing boots and switched his full attention to running the team.
After developing Arden into a leading F3000 outfit, Horner was appointed to lead the new Racing squad for the 2005 season after the Austrian energy drink company bought out the Jaguar F1 Team.
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While Horner’s promotion was well-earned, it came at the expense of Jaguar team principal Tony Purnell and managing director David Pitchforth, both of whom were let go by the new leadership.
A report from The Times explained: “The news was met with a stunned silence when a team meeting was called at the Milton Keynes factory to announce the changes, a measure of the affection for Purnell and Pitchforth. They were also highly regarded in the pitlane for their quiet but efficient attempt to turn around a struggling team.”
In the 20 years that have followed, Horner has established himself as one of the most successful team principals in F1 history, and while Jos Verstappen led calls for the Brit to step down in early 2024 after an internal probe – which was later dismissed – into allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’, the 51-year-old has no plans to move aside.
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Horner has contributed to 14 F1 titles during his Red Bull career (Image: Getty)
endured a difficult start to life in F1 back in 2005, finishing P7 in the Constructors’ Championship in each of their first two seasons. After P5 and P7 classifications in 2007 and 2008, the Milton Keynes squad took a huge leap forward, ending 2009 second in the standings behind Brawn.
The 2009 season also represented the emergence of Sebastian Vettel, who went on to contribute four of the eight Drivers’ Championship titles accrued by drivers in F1. The other four have been added by , who, like the legendary German driver, graduated from the team’s immense young driver programme.
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While the eight Drivers’ Championship titles and six Constructors’ Championships define the success of Horner’s reign, the talent pipeline that has established is arguably the team’s biggest success story over the past 20 years.
Seven of the 20 drivers on the grid in 2025 will be academy graduates, while Jack Doohan was also a member of Helmut Marko’s stable until 2022 before Alpine brought him into their line-up.