This forum contains threads to discuss teams themselves. Anything not technical about the cars, including restructuring, performances etc belongs here.
Well they are doing that design competition for the Miami GP which might use some wild colours. I think they would also be willing to run at Suzuka with white paint considering how good the car is...
"The issue of breaking budget limits has left a mark on us. And such things are exploited by our rivals. One of them contacted our sponsors, making the suggestion that we were damaging their reputation. It was insidious," - Horner says.
Here is the whole nice interview with Horner, which you only can read when you have a subscription. Part 1.
Christian Horner: ‘Red Bull are too easily seen as the bad guys because we don’t have a British driver’
Christian Horner sits down with Kevin Garside, Inews to discuss Red Bull’s flying start to 2023
March 26, 2023 12:19 pm
Red Bull celebrate their 20th season next year, a commemorative landmark coinciding with an imperious moment. The man at the helm, Christian Horner, has been in the role from the outset.
If he arrived in the paddock with an air of the over-promoted prefect, six drivers’ championships and five constructors’ titles, plus a little greying at the temples, are deserving of respect and confer upon him full member status of the “Piranha Club”, that cohort of influencers shaping the future of Formula One.
So if we are seeking the secret of Red Bull’s success it is to be found not so much in the hard science upon which F1 is predicated, nor the riches paying for it, but in the soft power of enlightened leadership. Horner has become one of the great enablers in all of sport.
His first job was to ease Styrian volcano Guenther Steiner out of the door in favour of the quiet genius of design guru Adrian Newey, a smart decision that did not make itself. You might think of Horner as the footballing equivalent of Pep Guardiola, a competent player who recognised his strength was not behind the wheel but leading.
Horner went from driving for the Arden junior racing team he founded to managing it. The experience gained was critical but not in itself a guarantee of success. Like Guardiola, Horner brought an approach and a vision to the leadership role that enabled more talented individuals to flourish.
“If you look after people and they feel comfortable in the environment they are in they will show you loyalty,” Horner tells i.
“It’s about getting the right people in the right roles, empowering them, creating the right atmosphere. At Arden people did not need to know how close to the wind we were sailing, the risks that were being taken. It was seat of the pants stuff.
“We had bank loans at NatWest, constantly at the overdraft limit, credit cards maxed out, writing cheques and sending them out before the money had come in. It is a much bigger scale here and financially we are in a very secure position, but you still have to remove the obstacles to allow people to get on with their jobs.”
It was this quality Red Bull fixer Helmut Marko recognised when recommending Horner to his boss, Austrian marketing magnate Dietrich Mateschitz in 2004. “I was looking to see how I could take Arden into F1. Bernie [Ecclestone] was pushing me towards the Jordan team,” he says.
“Helmut invited me to meet Dietrich in Salzburg in the summer of 2004. The Jordan deal didn’t happen and Red Bull bought Jaguar. Dietrich invited me back at the end of 2004 and asked me to be team principal.”
That was the end of Steiner, or the beginning if you consider his rise to Netflix superstar. “Guenther was and is a character but it was obvious he was not a technical leader. I identified what the team really needed was technical leadership and direction. So from a very early stage I made a point of bumping into Adrian.” And the rest, as they say…
Horner leads an organisation employing almost 1,500 people. Few have been happier to call Milton Keynes home. He is rightly proud of his contribution not only to his sport but the local community and wonders sometimes at the lack of connection with a British audience. It would be different he speculates “if we had a British driver like a certain team in Brackley. We are too easily seen as the bad guys.”
Last edited by Wouter on 27 Mar 2023, 09:39, edited 2 times in total.
He has a point. Though Red Bull were not responsible for the chaotic conclusion to the season that delivered the 2021 championship to Max Verstappen, they were blamed for an outcome engineered by the bizarre behaviour of ex-race director Michael Massi.
And in 2022 the budget cap transgression drew more toxic commentary over a material breach that was classified by the FIA as minor.
Horner accepts without rancour the often inflammatory reaction. It is the use to which narratives are put that offends. “It tainted us. These things get used by your rivals. We had one of them contacting our sponsors and partners making suggestions that we would be bringing their brands into disrepute. That was just underhand.
“My wife has always said to me a pat on the back is only six inches from a kick up the arse. This is like the Kardashians on wheels. As long as you are comfortable with the decisions you are taking. That’s how I live my life.”
Despite the obvious dominance of the 2023 car, Horner does not share the view that the season is over, not least because of the ever present danger of the random variable. “There is always something, always a technical directive that drops, a game changer. You can guarantee that the others will be scheming, ‘how can we slow them down’. It’s part of the game. Having lived through it before you become more seasoned in how to ride it out.”
Interestingly the team wondered if they were not in possession of the dud when Mercedes rolled out it sleek interpretation of the radical new rules a year ago. “The expectation coming into ‘22 with the biggest chassis regulation change in probably 30 years was actually pretty modest. Mercedes turned up with a car that looked unlike any others. And you think have we missed the target here? They have seen something in the regulations that we haven’t. Is this going to embarrass us?”
The competitive dynamic of this season has shifted entirely to the Red Bull drivers separated by a point at the top of the championship. Horner flatly dismisses the discord theory over Max Verstappen’s fastest lap in Saudi Arabia, claiming both drivers were cleared to chase the point it conferred. Horner likes his line-up and offers a perspective on Sergio Perez that the Mexican might do well to absorb.
“Checo was on the ropes careerwise. We did a deal that gave him a second wind and he has now won four grands prix and numerous podiums. He is driving better and better and finding his confidence. The biggest challenge for Checo is sustaining that over 23 events because that is where Max has become so strong over the last few years with the relentless consistency that he has.”
As you might expect, Horner’s appreciation of Verstappen is absolute. How could it be otherwise? Verstappen’s divinity is universally acknowledged, giving full expression to the eternal qualities shared by the pantheon. Asked if he is already on the lookout for the next Max, Horner replied: “There isn’t another Max. If you look back at 2021 at the pressure he had at certain points he drove some incredible races.
“In Zandvoort, his home nation had turned it into a flipping nightclub for the weekend. The noise on the grid, the expectation, the royal family was there. I remember watching him getting ready for the race, just a 24-year-old lad, he had this amazing ability to detach himself from what was going on around him and just be in the moment. He drove an incredible race, won it, but there was no crowd surfing at the end of it. It was just on to the next one.”
Eighteen years after his first trip to Australia as team principal and eight months shy of his 50th birthday, Horner returns to Melbourne next week with enthusiasm intact, if hardened by experience, still revelling in a ride he describes as insane. “We play our music loud and have a smile on our faces. It has to be more than a job. And that has to come from the top. An energy drink company taking on Mercedes Benz, Ferrari, Audi and whoever else, but why the f___ not? If we have the right people, the right resources, the right culture why can’t we do it?”
Thank you @Mendis.
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Is there someone here who has a subscription and could you please quote the important sentences?
Thank you @Mendis.
To read the whole article you need a subscription.
Is there someone here who has a subscription and could you please quote the important sentences?
This user has put the content into a thread of about 10 tweets here
.
Thank you @Mendis.
To read the whole article you need a subscription.
Is there someone here who has a subscription and could you please quote the important sentences?
.
This user has put the content into a thread of about 10 tweets here
I always read his Twitter but today I hadn't had the time. Thank you for posting this @Organic!
I suspect Max had trouble in FP2 to heat the tyres up, due to low downforce. Checco should have been at least 0.6s ahead of Alonso on those softs, so that would make Max 1.2s off Checco, which is way too much for regular laps. So his lap on mediums wasn't representative and could point to potential heat up trouble with lower downforce package.
I suspect Max had trouble in FP2 to heat the tyres up, due to low downforce. Checco should have been at least 0.6s ahead of Alonso on those softs, so that would make Max 1.2s off Checco, which is way too much for regular laps. So his lap on mediums wasn't representative and could point to potential heat up trouble with lower downforce package.
Yeah for sure. He also seemed to just lack rear downforce in fp1 so we'll see what they do. Probably put whatever Perez had onto Max's car for tomorrow
Thank you for posting this @Organic!
