Chequered Flag Extra: Christian Horner in conversation with Rick Edwards

Rick Edwards (0:01)

Five Live, Formula 1

Hello, Rick Edwards here with a special bonus edition of the Chequered Flag podcast. My day job on Five Live Breakfast, I've been chatting to former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner around the release of his memoir, Drive, and just thought it was worth bringing you the full interview to the podcast. We discuss a load of stuff, how much he misses the sport, why he was sacked last year, and what we're bringing back to Formula 1 Christian began by telling me what life's been like since he left Red Bull.

Christian Horner (0:31)

Do you know what? It's been an interesting period. It's the first time in my life that I've not been on that hamster wheel of traveling and airports and hotels. And so having a bit of time out and a bit of time to reflect, time with my family, you get a different perspective on life and what's important and what's it not.

And yeah, I look back with great pride of what I achieved during my time at Red Bull, but now I'm at a stage where I'm kind of excited about whatever the next chapter is. I'm excited to find out what that's going to be.

Rick Edwards (1:07)

You seem, just on a personal level, I've chatted to you a few times over the years, you seem more relaxed, less stressed.

Christian Horner (1:16)

Well, it's amazing, running a Formula 1 team is a pretty high-pressured job and it never stops. There is no time off. That phone is always going and when you're at the forefront of an organization, you're always on.

Suddenly, it's only when you step off that hamster wheel, then suddenly your shoulders can drop and you can take a breath and suddenly you realize that there's more to life than driving around in circles.

Rick Edwards (1:51)

Although that is sort of what your life has been all about for its entirety.

Christian Horner (1:55)

Absolutely.

Rick Edwards (1:58)

Do you understand now more why that decision was taken by Red Bull? Because in the book, it doesn't feel like you have a great deal of clarity on it.

Christian Horner (2:11)

Well, I think circumstances change. Things never stay the same forever. Red Bull was evolving. Obviously, the founder, Dietrich Mellerschitt, sadly passed at the back end of 2022, and it was inevitable that there was going to be change. I think it was probably deemed that I had too much control, too much influence in the Red Bull racing sphere, and they wanted to do differently. Look, at the end of the day, it's their train set. Subsequent to me leaving Red Bull, I've seen both shareholders, they've both texted me over prior to the weekend to thank me for the engine.

So Oliver Minslaft called me from Singapore again to thank me for what I'd done. So water passes under the bridge, but obviously felt pretty brutal at the time, but life goes on.

Rick Edwards (3:14)

Very prescient of your wife, Geri, who have called it a bit earlier. Like she said to you, I think they're going to get rid of you.

Christian Horner (3:22)

Well, she's sensitive to all of these things. I think women's intuition and I think your partner perhaps has always a bit more subjectiveness, you know, being in it, but slightly removed.

And she could see the dynamics were changing and she could see things that were different for me. And so, yeah, she called it and yeah, she was right.

Rick Edwards (3:48)

You mentioned the engine there.

There must be a sort of degree of frustration for you, that given it was your pet project, bringing in an engine that Red Bull were going to make themselves, they're not reliant on manufacturers. Not to see that to its conclusion must sort of kill you a bit.

Christian Horner (4:08)

I think that was a bit in leaving Red Bull.

That probably hurt the most in that the championships and races that we won, we'd achieved that, we'd done that, but the engine was about to be born, effectively. It was running on the dino's. It was clocking up the mileage. It was delivering the numbers. I was excited to see a Red Bull car powered for the first time by this power unit. I guess what it has done is filled me with pride with the men and women in that entity, in Red Bull powertrains, have done a wonderful, wonderful job that nobody believed was possible. Even internally, there were people that were questioning it. So for them to go out and be winning races in their first year, be judged to have the most powerful engine, I take great pride in that. And especially for those men and women that put in unbelievable efforts and hours to achieve that. It was against the odds, but it delivered.