Christian Horner’s defiant “united” response to question about losing his job
Christian Horner insists that he retains the backing of his bosses at Red Bull
Christian Horner batted away a question about losing his job by insisting he would still be the Red Bull boss at next week’s F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Horner oversaw a Red Bull 1-2 finish at Saturday’s Bahrain Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen winning and Sergio Perez coming in second.
But the season-opening round has been dominated by the situation surrounding Red Bull’s chief executive and team principal.
Despite being cleared of wrongdoing by Red Bull’s parent company after complaints against him from a female colleague, an anonymous email address later leaked alleged evidence to over 100 people within the F1 paddock.
Horner continues to deny the allegations that were made against him.
He was asked by Sky Sports: "Are you confident that you have got the full backing of everybody above you, and you will be leading this team in Jeddah next weekend?"
Horner responded: “Yes, absolutely. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
He was earlier spotted alongside Chalerm Yoovidhya, the Red Bull majority shareholder, who is reportedly one of his key allies.
Horner was asked if Red Bull remain united off the track, and he answered: “Yes, absolutely.
“We are a very strong team with tremendous support. We’ve got tremendous partners, great shareholders behind us, as well.
“You don’t achieve this kind of result by not being united.”
On track, the Bahrain Grand Prix was a dream start for Red Bull.
“The perfect start,” Horner said. “A dominant race.
“I have to say thankyou to all the men and women back in Milton Keynes who, this winter, worked so hard and came up with another great car.
“It is a testimony to the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.
“It was a great team performance to come up with that 1-2 finish, and maximum points today.”
The RB20 shocked F1 when, at its unveiling, it became clear it was following a new and bold concept.
Horner said about their 2024 car: “You can see it’s an aggressive evolution.
“The design team - the whole team - did a wonderful, wonderful job.
“They haven’t rested on their laurels. They pushed hard, they pushed the boundaries.
“You can see that there are a lot of innovative ideas on the car.
“It has got the basis of 2019 in its DNA but it’s a strong evolution.”
Last year Red Bull broke records by winning all-but-one grands prix.
He was asked if they could possible improve by winning 100% of 2024’s races.
“It’s a great start,” Horner answered. “A one-off, one circuit and one surface.
“It was a very cool temperature. Next week is a street track, much higher temperature.
“I think we will have to see three, four, five races before you see a true pattern.
“What we saw in testing was that the field has converged.
“So you can’t base too much on this one race.
“We took an extra soft tyre into this race which distorts that last stint, as well.
“We are surprised that others didn’t do that.
“It was a great performance by Max, and by Checo.”
Perez, for his part, answered his own critics with a P2 start to the season.
For the Mexican it was the perfect result to convince Red Bull to keep him for 2025.
“He’s got to keep performing like he did today,” Horner said.
“He started in fifth, he came through the field, he made a couple of good passes.
“He drove a strong race. A 1-2 finish is the optimum result that you can achieve as a team.
“They are not easy to do.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
