Christian Horner has confirmed his first official new role since leaving Formula 1. After 20 years in charge of the Red Bull team, winning more than a dozen titles during that period, the Brit was relieved of his duties as team principal and chief executive and formally left the outfit several weeks later after a sizeable pay-off was agreed.
In return, as is commonplace in F1, Horner was required to serve a lengthy period of gardening leave, prohibiting him from starting any new F1-related work during that time. It is understood that his enforced leave expired earlier this month, potentially paving the way for a return to the sport.
Horner is known to have been meeting with investors and is spearheading a group that is interested in the 24-percent stake in the Alpine team that is currently up for sale. But while he waits to see whether he will be successful in that process, the 52-year-old has been busy elsewhere and has now been confirmed as an adviser to investment company Oakley Capital.
Horner will work with Oakley to advise the company on its investment strategy in “premium sports” going forward. Oakley are already active in that space with investments in golf equipment and apparel company Vice, padel racket-maker Nox and, most notably, the British Americas Cup bid for 2027 spearheaded by Olympic hero sailor Ben Ainslie.
That news was announced on Thursday when the firm’s founder and managing partner Peter Dubens said: “Christian is widely recognised as a highly successful leader in global sport. His track record, expertise and commercial instinct will be invaluable as we continue to scale our sports portfolio.
“We are increasingly drawn to businesses in this space that share the hallmarks of a typical Oakley investment: founder-led, high-growth and supported by resilient revenues, or under-commercialised ‘scarce’ assets with significant untapped potential. We look forward to working with Christian in order to unlock these opportunities.”
Horner added: “Sports businesses are benefitting from growing global audiences and participation rates as more people embrace healthier, active lifestyles. Oakley Capital has established a strong reputation across the sports and consumer landscape and I look forward to working together in the future and sharing my experience to help support the next generation of standout sports businesses.”
But Horner’s ambition is not expected to stop there as a return to F1 is the real prize he is eyeing. As well as the bid for a stake in the Alpine team, he has also been heavily linked to Chinese carmaker BYD which is known to have expressed interest in joining the sport, potentially as a new outfit forming what would be the 12th team. Horner was spotted at a BYD event in Cannes last weekend and was photographed with the company’s vice president Stella Li.