The major management overhaul at Red Bull that led to Christian Horner (main image) and Helmut Marko leaving the team this year is not a risk for the future, according to Oliver Mintzlaff.
Horner was dismissed from his position as team principal and CEO of the Formula 1 team in July, while Marko’s departure was confirmed after the final race of the season. The pair have been involved since Red Bull first entered Formula 1 20 years ago, but Mintzlaff – CEO of corporate projects and new investments at Red Bull GmbH – says change was needed at the top.
‘I wouldn’t call [sacking Horner] a risk, because we were 100% behind this measure,” Mintzlaff told De Telegraaf. “We knew we had to do something. I am not a so-called hire-and-fire manager, someone who just fires people.
“Christian has a great track record with the team and has achieved great success. Everyone here in the company, including myself, appreciates him for what he has done. But this is also part of being a professional organization. You can’t rely on history and we felt it was time to turn the page and start a new chapter. It wasn’t an easy decision, but we didn’t rush into it either.”
Mintzlaff rarely speaks publicly about the F1 team, and while distancing himself from comments attributed to Marko – who was quoted in another Dutch publication, De Limburger, claiming that “Horner lied about all kinds of things” – he said the end of such a period of managerial stability should not be seen as a negative.
“These words about Christian are Helmut’s responsibility,” he said. “I can’t say anything negative about Christian, simply because he has meant a lot to Red Bull. But there always comes a time when things don’t go well and then you have to make a decision as a company.
“Are you going to give someone more time, or is it time for a new leader? We felt it was time for a change. Christian and Helmut have been working together fantastically for years, since the start in 2005, so we are talking about more than twenty years.”
“Give me a few examples of other major sports organizations where the leadership has remained the same for so long. So you can look at it very negatively that they are both gone now. But I would say it is unique that they have been here together for so long and have achieved so much. Sometimes you just need a change to shake things up.”
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