medium sizeManaging pressure is an integral part of Formula 1 racing. At the very top of the sport, it’s the team principals who bear the responsibility and the burden, and that’s pretty important. Christian Horner is no stranger to dealing with this issue in a career marked by focus and ambition and extraordinary success.
However, Red Bull team principal Horner is facing a week of scrutiny that may be unprecedented in his 20 years in F1, as the team’s parent company investigates allegations of inappropriate control behavior against him.
He knows his role in the job very well. Horner joined Red Bull in 2005 and took the helm in the team’s first Formula One season, becoming the youngest ever team principal at the age of 31. Nearly two decades later, he remains with the team and is now its longest-serving team principal. grid. He noted that his team environment, as well as his management, are unique.
“We are different at Red Bull. You won’t see anyone here in a suit and tie, more jeans and T-shirts,” he said of the culture he has created. “We play loud music, we don’t obey, we don’t answer to the engine manufacturers. We call it what we think it is, and we’re not afraid to have an opinion.”
When he took over the Jaguar team, its personnel number reached 450. Today, the company has won seven drivers’ championships and six constructors’ championships and has 1,500 employees across Red Bull Racing, Red Bull Powertrain and Red Bull Advanced Technologies, of which Horner serves as chief executive.
Long gone are the days of managing a team with a handful of mechanics in a real garage. The team leader is actually the leader of a small industry, and it is a very unique industry. The team has to be a design team, a research team, a manufacturing business, a publicity machine, a sports entity and now very much a corporate business as well. The size and complexity of F1 teams differ from other sporting organizations.
These demands are relentless and unforgiving, perhaps more so than for any other similarly sized structure, as success is measured beyond the balance sheet but rather in fierce and open competition. Horner, like all team principals, is very aware that he is the forward representative of the team, second only to the two drivers in interest and status.
This role often attracts people with unique personalities, but they are rarely timid. A certain level of self-confidence is inevitable, as is decisiveness, and often ruthlessness. Horner displayed these qualities many times, especially when he chose to give up his driving career at the age of just 25. After honest reflection, he realized he wasn’t a top guy and acted quickly and decisively. It was an early example of his clear-sighted pragmatism, as he chose to put his energy into developing the Arden racing team he formed.
Ardern’s immediate success led to him being headhunted for the Red Bull job, showing he had real talent in the department. It was a daunting task when he started, and he turned it around with astonishing speed. Five years after taking over, he won the team’s first world championship and went on to win four consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ titles between 2010 and 2013.
When assessing tasks, Horner always makes it clear that the most important role of a team leader is people management, with the leader setting the pace, direction and goals.
“It’s a people-first thing,” he said. “It’s about understanding and working with people, it’s about having the right people around you, giving them the right direction and trying to create the right environment for them.”
Not only does this require considerable management skills, but the size of the organization obviously determines the art of delegation, and it also requires interpersonal communication skills.
It’s also unusual because it requires an element of showmanship, and Horner has not shied away from F1’s politics when rivals are under pressure. Competing in this race is an important part of the sport, which further heightens tensions, not least because Horner’s driver Max Verstappen has been going toe-to-toe with Lewis Hamilton throughout the 2021 season , how difficult the game has become.
Horner said it was indisputable that pressure in F1 was inevitable, an aspect of a complex and intricate role that made unique demands.
