The F1 driver who played a surprise role in Christian Horner to Red Bull move

Tonio Liuzzi played a part in securing Christian Horner his team boss role at Red Bull.
One of Red Bull’s very first F1 drivers, Tonio Liuzzi, has revealed how his early advice to hire Christian Horner as team boss was heeded by Dietrich Mateschitz.
Horner was hired as Red Bull’s team boss when the brand arrived in F1 to take over the former Jaguar team at the start of 2005, with driver signing Tonio Liuzzi revealing his part in the decision.
Tonio Liuzzi: I was always pushing for Christian Horner
Liuzzi, who won the International F3000 series championship in 2004 with Christian Horner’s Arden International team, was given a test drive by the burgeoning team at the tail end of 2004 – several weeks before the appointment of Horner as team boss.
The Italian, who had shown tremendous promise in the junior categories of motorsport, had been part of Red Bull’s junior programme since 2002, well ahead of the brand’s entry as a team, and had already gained good knowledge of how it operated – particularly having dealt with Dr. Helmut Marko in his role as head of Red Bull’s junior driving talent.
“With Dr. Marko, the conversations were always really short and direct. Everybody knows how he is,” Liuzzi revealed on the Inside Line podcast.
“I have to say that, at the beginning, when I entered the motorsport world and I had to deal with him, when you see Dr. Marko’s name on the phone when he’s ringing, you start shaking because you would never know which mood he was gonna answer.
“Sometimes you just open the phone call and it would be shouting! But I always liked to deal with him because he was such a straight person. With him, white is white, black is black.
“He is always a straightforward person and I have to say that I feel proud that I’ve been part of the beginning of Red Bull, because, in a way, structurally, I was supporting the team, and, let’s say, I was an advisor as well, a little bit, on how we were putting the team together.”
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With Marko serving as Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz’s man on the ground as the Red Bull Racing team was pulled together, Liuzzi explained that his experience with Horner as Arden team boss resulted in him pushing for the then-31-year-old to get the nod as RBR team boss.
“I feel great because I won my Formula 3000 championship together with Christian Horner as well,” he said.
“In a way, I was part of the match between Christian Horner, Red Bull, and Dr. Marko, because we talked a lot [about] who would have been the right person to put on top of the team.
“I was always pushing for Christian Horner, because he was a super smart team principal, and he showed [that] already at Arden, his own team, when I won the Formula 3000 championship.”
Horner had already had contact with Marko for several years, having initially bought a trailer for his team from Marko, before fielding Red Bull juniors – like Liuzzi – in his team.
“I’m happy that I [helped make] this wedding many years ago. But it was amazing,” he said.
“[That group was like what was at] Ferrari, you had Ross Brawn, Jean Todt, and they were working with everybody put at the right place, at the right time, I think, and that was the biggest thing for Red Bull.
“Obviously, I have to say that the first few years were not so easy, because there were a lot of politics inside. We had Dany Bahar, Niki Lauda, Thomas Uberall – there were a lot of other people there to get the power.
“The first two, or three years were difficult, but, after 2007, I think everything started to get a clear line, and that’s where they made the big switch, and they brought them to where they are.”
With Horner stepping into the role and quickly proving he had the mettle to make it in Formula 1, Liuzzi explained where he saw his greatest strengths – the two decades since have seen Horner’s Red Bull win eight Drivers’ Championships and six Constructors’ Championships.
“He was definitely highly involved. Christian, both of them – they were leading the team, and many times we were discussing all together,” Liuzzi said of the early years with Horner and Marko working together.
“But, definitely, they had two different positions inside the team. They had to deal with different things, let’s say.
“But Christian, what I saw in his mentality, in his approach, in his handling of the team, he was super organised. He had everything printed in his head, and he knew what he wanted to arrive.
“He has the British approach, which also is really important many times in dealing with Formula 1. He was always really smart, because he knew where he wanted to end up, and he knew how to end up there where he actually wanted to.
“So he can be really political where he wants. He really knows how to talk, and he’s super smart.
“I think these are the qualities of a team principal, and that’s why they made him arrive where he is now, and he fully deserved the position.”
Red Bull had opted for an unusual seat share situation in 2005, with Austrian Christian Klien racing the first four races before Liuzzi taking on the next four before Red Bull opted for simplicity by opting for Klien for the remainder of the season.
“In 2005, the team was more focused on parties and marketing, let’s say, more than giving a super fast car,” Liuzzi said.
“But, in the background, the team was working highly and it was amazing that they were putting the structure to grow up.
“If I look behind, I would prefer to have a 2005 super-fast Red Bull car more than the marketing and partying situation.
“But I’m always proud and happy with what has been achieved in the time because we put the basis. I was helping the team to grow, putting the bases, and developing the car, but then after, when you start getting results, politics enter inside the team.
“I was really weak politically. Many times, I lost my seat because of that. But that’s part of the business. You need to be strong on every side.”
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