F1 News: Christian Horner Makes Slight Jab At Team Principals - "Very Different Personalities"

"Toto and I are Dinosaurs," says Red Bull boss.

Being one of the longest serving F1 team principals on the grid apart from Franz Tost of AlphaTauri, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner compares today's team principals to team bosses of his 'era'. 

Horner took over the team principal position since the team's inception in 2005 when he was the youngest among other bosses on the grid. In his revelations, he talks about how today's team bosses are more like managers. He also sees a shift in the new bosses being more technical than entrepreneurial. He told the ESPN Unlapped podcast:

“When I look around the room now, there’s very different personalities.

“When I first came into the sport, there was Ron Dennis, there was Flavio Briatore, there was Eddie Jordan, there was Jean Todt. There was Bernie Ecclestone running it, there was Max Mosley there, Frank Williams – some really big characters and personalities. 

"Of course now you look around the room – maybe it’s just me getting older – but there’s more managers there and it’s gotten much more technical than the entrepreneurial side.

“So I suppose Toto [Wolff] and myself are perhaps two of the more ‘dinosaur’ type of characters compared to some. Even though I’m still on the younger side of the team principles.

“But the dynamic and the definition of what a team principal is these days is very different to when I first came into this post.”

Speaking of Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff and Horner, the pair have often been seen locking horns over track battles. Their relationship also grabbed the limelight in Netflix's F1 documentary series Drive To Survive. 

Gathering Horner's statements, the change from what the sport and its teams were back in his early days and how they are today,  there is bound to be a stark contrast considering the way in which the rules have moulded the sport. As a result, you'd see a shift not only in the people but also in the cars, the regulations, the tracks, and in almost every element of Formula 1. 

Teams changed in the direction of the sport, transforming not only the managerial structure but also their approach to the sport in an overall sense. I'm glad Horner sees a commonality between him and Wolff- that they're Dinosaurs floating in the same boat.