Christian Horner is arguably one of the most popular team principals in Formula 1 today. He has been heavily featured because of his rivalry with Mercedes and their boss Toto Wolff, which was heavily featured in the Drive to Survive docuseries.
However, even without his rivalry with Wolff, Horner made a big name for himself in F1. He is the pivotal figure behind all of Red Bull’s success in F1 and oversaw Sebastian Vettel’s period of dominance between 2010 and 2013.
After a few quiet years, Red Bull returned to prominence once again with Max Verstappen winning the 2021 World Champion, and the Milton-Keynes-based outfit securing both titles the very next year, once again with Verstappen’s help.
Horner is hugely successful as an F1 team principal and may have been the driving force behind guiding Red Bull to glory. However, on the track, his racing career with majorly overwhelming. On his social media account, the Brit reminisced about the little glory he tasted as a driver, looking back on his Formula 3 days.
The racing career of Red Bull team principal Christian Horner
Horner, like almost every single racing driver, began his journey in karting. He rose through the ranks to win a Formula Renault scholarship in 1991 following which he joined Manor Racing in the next year’s British Formula Renault Championship.
Horner finished the 1992 season as a race winner and was the highest-placed rookie in the championship standings, but his career never really took off. He took part in the British Formula 3 Championships in 1994 before joining the Formula 3000 series in 1997.
In 1998, however, Horner realized that despite his best efforts, racing on the track was something he wasn’t cut out for. As a result, he decided to focus more on the management side of things and took over responsibility to help the Arden team grow in the particular series.
When Max Verstappen’s mom defeated Horner
Today, Max Verstappen is arguably one of F1’s biggest stars. Back in 1989, however, it was his mother Sophie Kumpen who was making the headlines in the world of racing. She was one of the best karting drivers in the world at the time, and Horner recalled the moment he went toe to toe with her.
“I raced against Max’s mum in 1989 in the junior kart world championship,” he said to Business F1. “In that race, there were some super-talented drivers: Jan Magnussen, Jarno Trulli, Giancarlo Fisichella, Dario Franchitti. She was top 10 in the world, for sure.”
