Christian Horner: Red Bull Betrayal, Geri’s WARNING & Unfinished Business in F1 (E443)

Jake Humphrey (0:00)

Hey, it's a massive week for High Performance, and we have a special bonus episode dropping this Friday with Richard Hammond. Make sure you hit follow.

Christian Horner (0:11)

Geri said to me, they don't want you anymore, they don't value you. Got a text to say, we want to have a chat. It was dressed up as to talk about marketing. The helmet said, well, it feels more like Christian Horner racing than Red Bull racing.

Jake Humphrey (0:21)

I mean, I wonder whether betrayal is too strong a word, or whether that's how it felt. Well, it's nice to see you.

Christian Horner (0:33)

It's good to see you too.

Jake Humphrey (0:34)

Welcome back to High Performance.

Christian Horner (0:36)

Yeah, it's been a while. It's been a while. Different setup.

Jake Humphrey (0:39)

Yeah, and a lot has changed in our lives, and certainly in your life since then, which we're going to talk about. The biggest change, obviously, is that for 23 years, Red Bull Racing was not your job, but your life. 405 Grand Prix, 124 wins, 14 World Championships for Drivers and Constructor. And then in 45 minutes, that journey came to an end. And you talk in the book about your first feeling after that conversation being one of relief.

Why relief?

Christian Horner (1:08)

I think, obviously tension had grown, things had changed, and it just felt very, very different to, you know, when I came into the sport, into the team, and, you know, when I got in the car and I left that meeting, you know, I called Geri, called my wife, explained what happened.

And you just feel like, you know, the world's been almost taken off your shoulders. Incredibly sad. And as I drove back up, you know, the M40 home, you have a chance to, you know, reflect a little.

But yeah, if I'm really honest with myself, and if you spoke to my wife, you know, there was a period in time that, you know, we were winning a huge amount. And she said, I've never seen you so unhappy. And it's almost like you get to the top of the mountain and you realize there's nothing there. You know, it was that kind of feeling. And obviously a huge amount of pressure in a sport that is so visible as well.

Jake Humphrey (2:17)

So how can you explain that to people who would imagine that the minute you're winning world titles, drivers, constructors, the team is celebrated, you're the rock and roll team on the grid, you've transcended Formula 1, you've spoken about in mainstream, you've become famous in every country in the world. How can you explain to people that you were almost the least happy you've ever been at that point?

Christian Horner (2:38)

I think it's all relative and it applies across so many different aspects of life that if you're happy in yourself, if you're happy in your work, then everything is just easier. And there have been an awful lot of change, obviously within the team, within the overall business, and then different pressures are settling down as to what does the new world after the passing of the founder, Dietrich Maniches, and inevitably, it was always going to be different from that moment onwards. And rather than being able to focus on just the racing, suddenly your energy, your focus gets consumed into managing other elements and other relationships and politics, which inevitably happen within many, many different organizations.

Jake Humphrey (3:32)

So we're talking here, I guess, about the period where you're dealing with allegations of coercive and controlling behavior. You're in the newspapers every day.

Christian Horner (3:40)

No, this is way before that. Way before that? Way before that, yeah.

Jake Humphrey (3:43)

Because I sort of assumed that life as the Red Bull boss was going great until that moment happened and the allegations came out. But even before that, you were...

Christian Horner (3:51)

No, no, way before that.

Jake Humphrey (3:52)

So take us to the moment that you felt something in the team was broken and what was going on then.

Christian Horner (3:57)

I didn't feel it was breaking. You could just feel change. And inevitably, when you have a founder like Dietrich was, he was the epicenter of all things Red Bull. And then when that person is there no longer, it leaves a void and it's how is that void there fulfilled. And so life started become very different from the end of 2022 And as we headed into the 23 season, I was given more responsibility where I was asked to take on the responsibility for the marketing of the second team to become Rename Racing Bulls and appointing Laurent and Peter Bayer into that team. I could just feel it didn't sit well within parts of the group. And then you start to feel a push back and an attention. And even though we were doing all that winning during 23, we only lost one race.