Christian Horner: Geri has been strong, resilient – an absolute rock

Christian Horner is at a crossroads of what next and has no idea where he might turn. On one side, there is the potential Formula One comeback and barely a week goes by where he isn’t linked to another team – “I think it’s everyone but Mercedes,” he says with a laugh. But will he return to the paddock? “It feels like a magnet,” he says of the sport, “and it’s trying to pull me back in. But I’d only go back for the right thing. I don’t feel like I’ve got anything to prove.” His tenure at Red Bull was one of the most successful in the sport’s history with 124 victories from the 404 consecutive grands prix he attended, six constructors’ championships and eight drivers’ crowns. But there was also the controversies from being the Darth Vadar of Drive to Survive, as he puts it, to the cost cap fall-out, allegations about his behaviour which were ultimately thrown out, and then his very public exit. Horner says his diary is still ‘rammed’ despite no longer running the Red Bull F1 team (Photo: PA) At the time of his departure, he admits he was angry at the decision and wanting to prove unfinished business in the sport. “The stages of grief start with shock and anger and I went through the first two phases pretty quickly,” he admits reflecting 15 months on, but it was his daughter Olivia who helped him realise the priorities. Just days after his axe, he was at the funeral of his ex-partner Beverley, Olivia’s mum. “And I went to an end-of-term event at Olivia’s school,” he recalls, “and watching her less than a week after her mother passed go up on stage in front of all her friends, I thought, ‘You know what, if she can do that with what she’s dealing with, this is nothing in comparison.’”He’s very much at peace with the decision now and relations have improved with most of those who brought the axe down on his 21-year Red Bull career. Both owners Mark Mateschitz and Chalerm Yoovidhya are in regular contact, and he pulls out his phone to show a picture of the cake Yoovidhya sent to staff of an engine, a nod to their first win as an in-house supplier of their power units in Malaysia earlier this month. Horner was an eight-time world champion during his time at Red Bull (Photo: AFP) “Life’s too short to bear grudges, what does it achieve?” he says. “They made a decision, it was their choice, that’s the reality and I can live with that. I even had Oliver Mintzlaff [the man who sacked him the day after last year’s British Grand Prix] call me from the airport in Singapore congratulating me on their victory and saying thank you. That felt a bit weird and was quite different to the conversation we had 15 months earlier! But it shows how the passage of time changes things.” Horner insists there are things he would have done differently given the time again but is adamant he has no real regrets. Family has been central to his hiatus, and he pours particular praise on his wife Geri. He calls her an “absolute rock” and says the furore of his last two seasons in F1 have only brought them closer together. “She’s got incredible strength and resilience,” he says pointing to the fall-out of when he was accused and cleared of controlling and coercive behaviour by an employee. In a show of strength, Geri arrived at race one of that season arm in arm with her husband. “Walking into the paddock in Bahrain must have been immensely difficult for her because she’s a public person in her own right,” he says. “So I’m enormously grateful for the support that she’s given to me even on the difficult days. She’s been phenomenal and I think having experienced the highs and lows of media scrutiny she has resilience.” Horner calls wife Geri ‘an absolute rock’ (Photo: Getty) Looking back to the Spice Girls heyday, he says: “Some of the coverage was absolutely shocking, the scrutiny those five young girls were under at a time when people didn’t really talk about mental health. It was brutal.” It is a word he uses to describe his own sudden sacking which came with no other explanation other than the team had become more Team Horner rather than Team Red Bull. In the aftermath, he faced something of an identity crisis he has now come to terms with in paving a way to his future. “Suddenly after that happens, you walk into a room and who are you?” he asks. “You’re no longer CEO and team principal. You’re just Christian Horner. For so many people they get their identity through their work and to have that stripped away, you can see why mental health issues are so prevalent, particularly in middle-aged men because it forces you to aske some pretty big questions of yourself. “‘Who am I? What I am? What’s my purpose?’ It does force you to look at that.” Read more Tasha Gouri: We need to talk about the five best-dressed men in F1 (and the five worst!) Matt Majendie: One year on from Christian Horner’s exit, Max Verstappen has never been unhappier The answer to that is husband, father and businessman – he is working with investment firm Oakley Capital and has spent time with F1 owners Liberty witnessing Formula E and MotoGP operations. But has he not got at all bored since leaving the daily hustle of F1? “My diary is absolutely rammed,” he concludes, “but that’s great and I’m too young to play golf every day anyway. I’m not sure how I had time to run a team before.” And as for what’s next, he shrugs: “Who knows?” Drive by Christian Horner is out now, published by Bantam