Red Bull Chief Reveals 'Tremendous Support' From Family During Highly Controversial 2024 Season

Saajan Jogia | Dec 25, 2024

Jun 8, 2024; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Red Bull Racing CEO and team principal Christian Horner in the pit lane at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images / Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has opened up on a controversial 2024 season that saw the team face severe challenges on track and off track. However, the team boss claimed that his wife and family stood by him in trying times, helping him sail through the turbulent period.

The Formula 1 season began with news of Horner being accused by an employee of alleged inappropriate behavior, which led to an internal investigation. Eventually, the team boss was cleared of any wrongdoing, but his reputation took a hit after an alleged email was leaked by an anonymous person with 'proof' of the matter to all Formula 1 team principals.

Horner reflects on the difficult time and reveals the support he received. Addressing the controversy that raged as the 2024 season came to life, Horner told RacingNews365:

"You've got to stick to your own principles and beliefs.

"I had tremendous support from within the team. Whilst there was a lot of noise in the paddock, whenever you cross the red line into the garage, it was business as normal. 

"You never give up, you find out who your friends are and 100% [I did not consider stepping down], but it is a year I wouldn't like to repeat.

"I think sitting here in December with the results that we've achieved is testimony to the strength and depth that we have in the team.

"I just believed in myself and the process and and my focus was to ensure that we kept winning, and we kept kept delivering.

"I've had tremendous support from my family and my wife and at the end of the day, that's the most important thing."

The event followed reports of an internal power struggle between him and Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko, who was on the verge of quitting the team. Fortunately, the team's on-track performance remained powerful for the first ten races of the season, with Max Verstappen winning seven of them. Soon though, the man responsible for designing Red Bull's dominant cars, Adrian Newey, announced his exit in May, and the period after the summer break saw Red Bull struggle with the RB20 F1 car's balance.

Despite losing the two top spots in the Constructors' Championship to McLaren and Ferrari, the Milton Keynes outfit managed to fix the problems on the car and supported Verstappen to secure his fourth championship victory. Looking back at what could be described as one of Red Bull's toughest seasons in Formula 1, marking a stark contrast from a dominant 2023 season, Horner added:

"It's certainly been a challenging year, but we've seen our driver defend his fourth drivers World Championship, have won nine Grand Prix, qualified first nine times, even though he didn't start from pole position on nine times and have won four sprint races.

"It's been a strong campaign from the team, and particularly from Max, to get those kind of results, which are more wins than any other team in the pit-lane.

"Sometimes in adversity, of course, others look to capitalize on it, but it does galvanize the team. 

"And I felt that's what happened this year. The team has looked to optimize performance even when we didn't have the fastest car, we still had to deliver strong strategies, strong pit stops, reliability, and all those elements. 

"In latter races, we've been able to get performance back onto the car and see the results start to come back, with the two victories in the recent races.

"Off track, a couple of high profile people left, the car was not performing through the summer months, so there was quite a lot to contend with.

"And in the background, we are preparing a new engine for 2026, so it's been a challenging year."