Special Christian Horner trait revealed key to Red Bull F1 success

Alex Albon believes most of Red Bull's F1 success was the result of Christian Horner and the team having "the knack" of finding the right people. 

Horner was dismissed on July 9th as team principal and CEO of Red Bull, meaning this weekend's Belgian GP will be the first race in the team's history he has not been in charge for, as Laurent Mekies steps up from Racing Bulls.

Albon drove for Horner at Red Bull between mid-2019 and the end of 2020, staying on as a reserve driver for '21 before departing for a race drive at Williams. 

The Thai is one of seven drivers on the current grid to have either raced for Red Bull or been a part of the junior programme, and felt Horner's ability to hire the correct people was a key block behind his success with 124 wins and 14 world championships on his CV.

"Yeah, I was," Albon told media, including RacingNews365, when asked if he was surprised by Horner's dismissal. 

"He's someone who helped me a lot in my career, and obviously, he's been in the sport for a long time, had a lot of success, and he built that team up."

Then pushed by RacingNews365 as to what had made Horner so successful, Albon pointed towards the senior team Horner had assembled, most of whom had left, sparking the decline in performance, such as Adrian Newey, Rob Marshall, and Jonathan Wheatley.

"I mean, I joined quite late in the Christian Horner era, and on my side, it was clear that he had his people and had brought everyone up together.

"There were a lot of long-standing team members at Red Bull who had been there for a long time, and to this day as well. 

"They seem to have a good knack for finding the right people and then building a good circle and chip away at it and very quickly get to the top - and I guess that is part of its success."