Christian Horner

Christian Horner
Horner at the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix
Born	(1973-11-16) 16 November 1973 Leamington Spa, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Occupation	Team Principal of Infiniti Red Bull Racing 2005–Present
Partner(s)	Beverley Allen

Christian Edward Johnston Horner OBE (born in Leamington Spa, United Kingdom on 16 November 1973) is the Team Principal of the Infiniti Red Bull Racing Formula One team, a position he has held since 2005. His motorsport career started as a race car driver, before switching roles to become Team Principal of GP2 Series team Arden Motorsport in 1999.

Horner driving for Alan Docking Racing at Silverstone during the 1995 British Formula Three Championship season

Driving career

Horner's career in motorsport started after winning the prestigious 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, making his 1994 debut with the Fortec team before moving to the ADR team in 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. He stayed in F3000 for 1998 and was joined at Arden by Kurt Mollekens. He retired from driving at the end of the season deciding instead that he was more suited to running a team rather than driving.

Team management

At the age of 25, Horner decided to continue with the team in F3000 as the owner, signing Viktor Maslov and Marc Goossens for the 1999 season. Success in the sport proved hard to find, with the team not finding a win in any of its first three seasons, Darren Manning not even being able to get one in his two seasons with the team.

A new driver line-up changed the situation for 2002, with Tomáš Enge and Björn Wirdheim who were brought in to replace Manning and Maslov. Enge won the title that year, but was demoted to third after a failed drug test, handing the title to Sébastien Bourdais.

Wirdheim stayed in 2003, with Enge replaced by Townsend Bell. Björn Wirdheim won the title by a 35-point margin to second-placed Ricardo Sperafico.

The final season of F3000, 2004, was dominated by Arden's lead driver Vitantonio Liuzzi; the support of Robert Doornbos helped to secure both the Drivers and Constructors Championship titles by a large margin. At this time Horner based his Arden International Team at Prodrive premises in Banbury, before relocating them to the former 22 Motorsport facility close by.

In November 2004 the Austrian energy drink company, Red Bull, purchased Jaguar F1 Team, which became Red Bull Racing. In 2005, they brought in Horner to Formula One, as as the youngest Team Principal at the time. In 2006, he jumped into a swimming pool wearing nothing but a Superman cape to celebrate the team's first podium finish at the Monaco Grand Prix. The team finished a strong second in the 2009 Constructors' Championship with drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finishing second and fourth respectively in the drivers' title race. In 2010, the team won their first Constructors' Championship with one race to spare, and Sebastian Vettel won the Drivers' Championship at the final race of the season, becoming the youngest World Champion ever. In 2011, the team won their second Constructors' Championship with three races to spare, with Sebastian Vettel becoming the world's youngest double-champion. In 2012 the team won their third Constructors' Championship with one race to spare, with Sebastian Vettel becoming the world's youngest triple World Champion.

Horner was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to motorsport.

Personal life

Horner was educated at Arnold Lodge School in Leamington and then Warwick School. He has two brothers, Jamie and Guy. He has an 'unofficial' fan club called 'The Christian Horner Fan Club', known collectively as The Hornettes.

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	DC	Points
1997	Arden International	SIL 16	PAU DNQ	HEL DNQ	NÜR DNQ	PER DNQ	HOC DNQ	A1R 16	SPA DNQ	MUG 17	JER 6			21st	1
1998	Arden Racing/KTR	OSC Ret	IMO 12	CAT Ret	SIL Ret	MON 16	PAU DNQ	A1R 17	HOC 18	HUN Ret	SPA DNQ	PER 17	NÜR 17	33rd	0

References

• Christian Horner Profile Red Bull Racing

External links

• The Christian Horner Fanclub