HORNER
Christian

• 1. Driving career

Christian Edward Johnston Horner is a British motorsport executive and former racing driver. Since 2005, he has been team principal of the Red Bull Formula One team, winning thirteen world titles (six World Constructors' Championships and seven World Drivers' Championships). His motorsport career started as a racing car driver, before he switched roles to become head of International Formula 3000 team Arden International Motorsport in 1999.

Driving career

Having started his racing career in karts, Horner's career in car racing started after he won a Formula Renault scholarship in 1991. He competed in the 1992 British Formula Renault Championship with Manor Motorsport, finishing that season as a race winner and the highest placed rookie.

He then moved up to British Formula Three for 1993, finishing second in the Class B Championship for P1 Motorsport and winning five races, before moving to the Fortec and ADR teams in 1994 and 1995, and then to the TOM'S team in 1996. In 1996, he also raced in British Formula Two. Horner moved up to Formula 3000 in 1997, founding the Arden team.

According to Horner, he set the team up with borrowed money, including a loan from his father, and persuaded P1 Motorsport founder Roly Vincini to take on the role of his race engineer. He bought a second-hand trailer for the team from Helmut Marko, who as head of the Red Bull Junior Team was one of Horner's main rivals as a manager in F3000, and with whom he would later work closely at Red Bull. Horner stayed in F3000 for 1998 and was joined at Arden by Kurt Mollekens, who showed good pace and led the championship at one stage. During a pre-season test at Estoril, Horner followed Juan Pablo Montoya through the circuit's high-speed first corner and realised that he was "not capable of replicating the level of commitment" shown by the Colombian driver. As a result, he decided to step back from driving at the conclusion of the season in order to focus on developing the Arden team.