'Piranha club to managers' lobby', Horner on drastic change F1 has undergone

16:17, 23 Jun

Updated: 18:34, 23 Jun

byKevin Doldersum

Christian Horner, who has been a part of the pinnacle of motorsport for two decades as the team principal of Red Bull Racing, has led Max Verstappen to four consecutive world titles. However, the British team principal sees major differences in this modern era compared to his early years in Formula 1.

Speaking to PlanetF1, Horner said: “When I came into the sport, sitting around the table was Bernie Ecclestone running it with Max Mosley [FIA President],” he told PlanetF1.com, in an exclusive interview. You had Ron Dennis running McLaren, Frank Williams at Williams, Jean Todt at Ferrari, and Flavio Briatore running Renault. Eddie Jordan was still around when I first started, and they were big personalities and big characters.”

According to Horner, there were always intense discussions among the top figures in Formula 1 during his initial years. Dennis once referred to the dynamics between the team bosses as the 'Piranha Club', where all would happily devour anyone who did not possess the skills to make it in such a every-man-for-himself environment. About this, Horner said: “There were always disagreements, but there was a commonality of agreeing on what was right for the business, and what was right for the sport, because they were all relatively entrepreneurial.”

Christian Horner has now become one of the most prominent figures in the F1 paddock

Horner was 32 years old when he started in F1 and had not achieved anything compared to the team principals he mentioned. Now, Red Bull Racing's top man has become one of the most prominent figures in the series, having been instrumental in two era's of domination, that of Sebastian Vettel, and currently Max Verstappen's, with both drivers taking four back-to-back titles each during their stints.

Horner outlines changes as F1 continues to evolve

The first ten years of Horner's F1 career were marked by the rise of Vettel in the team. Two years after the German left Red Bull, the next superstar talent emerged. In 2016, Verstappen made his debut for the Austrian team and since then, he has been dubbed by many as one of the greatest drivers of all time. Yet, according to Horner, the sport is not what it used to be.

“Nowadays, you look around the room and, save for a few, it’s largely a bunch of managers, as opposed to perhaps that entrepreneurial spirit that existed previously,” Horner concluded. This year, the Brit is under fire at Red Bull, yet he himself is not planning to leave Red Bull.