23/06/2025 12:00
Christian Horner has explained how the dynamic between F1 team
principals has changed since he started at Red Bull in 2005. The
51-year-old first entered the so-called "piranha club" at the start
of the Milton Keynes squad's first season in F1, having purchased
the team from Jaguar. At the time, there were still team owners at
the helm of their respective operations, something that is
significantly less common today. And Horner highlighted that whilst
there were disagreements between the big personalities around the
decision-making table, there was also an understanding over needing
to put the business side of F1 first. "When I came into the sport,
sitting around the table was Bernie Ecclestone running it with Max
Mosley [FIA President]," the Red Bull team principal said to
PlanetF1.com . "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. "Yes, 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." A lack of
respect Liberty Media, a publicly-traded media conglomerate,
purchased F1 from Ecclestone in 2017. This facilitated the ensuing
boom in popularity for the championship, through the launch of
Netflix docu-series Drive to Survive . Whilst the viewership of F1
has grown to record highs in the contemporary era, Horner feels
there have been substantial changes amongst his fellow team bosses,
too. He believes there is a lack of respect between some of the
group, something he did not judge to be the case two decades ago.
"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," the Briton added.
"There were always rivalries; I mean, Jean and Ron never
particularly saw eye-to-eye, but there was always respect that,
sometimes, I think is a little lacking these days." Horner has
enjoyed intense rivalries in recent years, in particular with
Mercedes' Toto Wolff and Zak Brown of McLaren, which has instigated
a number of disagreements played out publicly in the media.
