The Mind of a F1 Team Principal:Christian Horner on F1 & More-Part 2

Ed Bernardon (0:00)

If you're a Formula 1 racing fan, you know all about the Netflix Drive to Survive series, the show where we watch F1 managers, drivers and team owners as the F1 season plays out in front of us. It's full of excitement and suspense, and does a great job of capturing the energy of a grueling F1 season. Here to tell me all about that energy is one of the stars of the hit show.

Welcome to part two of my interview with Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner. If you haven't already, I suggest going back and listening to part one, where Christian and I discussed his work culture, the biggest changes he's seen during his time at F1, and the new F1 regulations.

In this part two interview, Christian and I discussed what major vehicle design changes new regulations have prompted, his thoughts on Drive to Survive and the sustainability efforts within F1. Lastly, we finish off the interview with our rapid fire series, where I ask Christian more personal questions, such as what's the first car he ever owned, and as always, what his living room on wheels looks like, and a few more. I'm Ed Bernardon, and this is part two with Christian Horner. There's a lot of people out there that are saying when you get a team that's very dominant, there's this perception that it's bad for the sport, because when you have that last race on the last lap, it's going to determine the champion versus when one team is dominant through the whole season. I'm sure you've been asked this question before. Do you think that's really true?

Christian Horner (1:46)

I think serial winning in any sport probably doesn't ignite the fan passion as much as, if I compare 2023 to 2021, that last lap in Abu Dhabi was the most viewed piece of sporting history.

Ed Bernardon (2:02)

Most exciting lap in all Formula 1

Christian Horner (2:05)

In the world that year and probably for the decade before. So of course, everybody loves competition, but inevitably sometimes when you have a big reset in regulations, there is divergence, but with stability, there is always convergence. And I think we're now into that arena.

Ed Bernardon (2:23)

The football team, the American football team, where I'm from in Boston is the New England Patriots and they won for like 20 years right there. Multiple Super Bowls and now everybody hates them.

Well, not anymore because now they're losing, but that's what happens over time. Everyone starts to not like the winner.

Christian Horner (2:39)

The following Formula 1 is huge, but of course you're going to get people that are fans of Max and you'll have people that are fans of Lewis or Fernando or others. So that's sport. That's what is part of that. People attach to who they like or they can relate to and who they admire.

Ed Bernardon (3:02)

Is there something you think that you could do to the rules maybe that would still allow you to go all out? I guess you're going to go all out to increase that gap no matter what, but could there something be done to the rules maybe to make it harder to increase the gap?

Christian Horner (3:16)

The biggest thing, if you want to have absolute fine margins between the cars, leave the rules alone.

Just leave them for a long period of time. The cars will converge and it will be very, very tight and it will be them really marginal gains and then the driver will play a bigger role.

That's the reality.

Ed Bernardon (3:34)

Yeah. So as we go, as we move away from 22, it's going to get tighter. So you think this coming year will be a little tighter?

Christian Horner (3:40)

I think the next two years, it's only going to get harder naturally and then we have a big reset in 26

Ed Bernardon (3:46)

Do it all over again.

What about making the sport more exciting? For instance, just throw some ideas out there like mandate more pit stops so the tires are fresher and they can drive full out the whole time or refueling or maybe something crazy like they did in Formula E where they have fan boost.

Christian Horner (4:02)

They don't go gimmicky. I mean, if force fuel stops and tire changes, what you'll see is, and we've been there and through all this before, and you've only got to look back in history to see what the effect that these rules had is that the races become very mathematical, strategized events that don't encourage more racing. So the refueling will be three elements of a sprint race that are three states that, for example, are flat out.