From 380 to 2000 employees in less than 20 years
In recent weeks, it has emerged that John Elkann did indeed try over the past five years to convince Christian Horner to leave Red Bull and take the helm at Scuderia Ferrari. The British team principal chose to remain in charge of his creation and intends to continue doing so, as he reiterated in an interview with De Telegraaf.
“I’m flattered that other teams have contacted me,” said Christian Horner. “In the past, Ferrari did get in touch with me. But my heart beats for Red Bull. I’ve hired a huge number of people and personally convinced them to come work for our team. I’ve invested a large part of my life in this team, from the very beginning. I feel a huge sense of loyalty toward all the team members, and I also feel the support of the parent company. I feel a responsibility toward the people who work here. When I arrived at Red Bull, there were 380 employees. Now there are about 2,000 if you count all the departments. We collect a quarter of a billion euros per year from sponsors and marketing revenue. It’s a huge business. And I think the sporting results we’ve achieved over the years speak for themselves. We’ve won 124 of the 402 races we’ve contested and secured a total of fourteen world championships.” – the British manager pointed out.
A year ago, Christian Horner had to weather a true media storm, but he never considered stepping down, unlike Oliver Oakes, the former Alpine team principal (and it’s said that Flavio Briatore’s Alpine is also a big admirer of Christian Horner). The current Red Bull team boss will not easily leave the bridge of his creation: “Resigning was never an option for me. Nor for the people around me. I’ve always felt strong support from a group of very nice and loyal people within the organization. I don’t want to go too deep into the subject. It’s better to look ahead,” Christian Horner added.
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