2023-08-16 07:53:39
For Red Bull boss Christian Horner, he and Toto Wolff are the latest examples of a certain type of Formula 1 team boss.
At the end of 2023, Franz Tost will leave the management of the team Alpha Tauriwhich he has led since 2005, and will be replaced in this position by a pair formed by Peter Bayer, who will take on the role of CEO, and Laurent Mekies, who will be in charge of the team on a daily basis.
The Austrian is, along with Christian Horner, the longest-serving team manager in the current paddock. A paddock which has experienced a significant turnover in its staff in recent years, at the same time as increasingly diverse organizations have been deployed and far from the very vertical model that was current in previous decades.
In this, Horner, who directs Red Bull Racing since 2005, believes he is part of the latest generation of old-fashioned team principals, alongside arch nemesis Toto Wolff, the Mercedes.
“When I look around me, there are very different personalities”said Horner as part of the Unlapped podcast. “When I came into this sport, there was Ron Dennis [chez McLaren]Flavio Briatore [chez Renault]Eddie Jordan [chez Jordan] and Jean Todt [chez Ferrari].”
“There was Bernie Ecclestone [directeur général du Formula One Group] who was in charge, there was Max Mosley [à la tête de la FIA]Frank Williams [chez Williams] ; really strong characters and personalities. Of course today you look around – maybe it’s just me getting older – but there are more managers and it’s become a lot more technical than the entrepreneurial aspect.”
“I guess Toto and I are maybe two of the most ‘dinosaur’ characters compared to others, even though I’m still among the younger team managers. But the dynamic and the definition of this what a team manager is today are very different from what they were when I arrived in this role.”
Horner, who took over as manager of Red Bull at the age of 31, will turn 50 next November. As for Toto Wolff, currently 51, he has been at the helm of Mercedes since 2013.
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