Alex Albon highlights Christian Horner's key to success at Red Bull

Alex Albon has praised former Red Bull Formula 1 team boss Christian Horner for having a “knack for finding the right people” following his abrupt departure from the team.

Albon, who came through the Red Bull junior driver programme, raced under Horner during his one-and-a-half seasons with the senior team from mid-2019 to the end of 2020.

At the time, Red Bull was in the midst of a rebuild following the end of its long-term partnership with Renault and the start of a new works engine deal with Honda.

Following Albon’s exit, Horner oversaw Red Bull’s latest dominant era, guiding the team to four consecutive drivers’ titles and back-to-back constructors’ championships from 2021 to 2024. However, his long tenure came to an end earlier this month when he was dismissed from his role as team principal and CEO.

Speaking to media including Crash.net, Albon admitted he was taken aback by the news of Horner’s exit.

“Yeah, I was [surprised],” he said. “[Christian is] someone who's helped me a lot in my career and obviously he's been in the sport for a long time, [had] a lot of success.

“So you could say he's built that team up, so to see him go is obviously quite the first time.”

It was under Horner’s leadership that Sebastian Vettel won four consecutive world championships between 2010 and 2013 in cars that pushed the diffuser regulations to the limit.

Following a long title drought, Red Bull returned to championship-winning form in 2021 with Max Verstappen and carried that momentum into the new technical era introduced in 2022.

Albon highlighted Horner’s ability to surround himself with a strong group of people as one of the key factors behind Red Bull’s success.

The team has long been regarded for its engineering strength, having attracted and retained several top technical talents, although a recent exodus has seen the departures of Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley, among others.

Asked what made Horner such a successful figure in F1, Albon replied: “Obviously I joined quite late into the Christian Horner kind of era.

“On my side, it was clear that he had his people and he brought everyone up together.

“There were a lot of long-standing members at Red Bull who were there for a long time and still are to this day as well.

“He seemed to have a good knack for finding the right people and then building a good circle around, and they seem to chip away at it and very quickly get to the top. I guess that's part of the success.”