On the morning Formula 1 was practising in Singapore, Christian Horner walked his son to school in Highgate, north London. In his first long interview since Red Bull sacked him in July 2025, he told The Independent it was the first time in 35 years he had been off what he called the sport’s hamster wheel.
Red Bull released him from his operational duties on 9 July 2025, ending a 20-year run that produced eight drivers’ and six constructors’ world titles. His memoir Drive, published by Bantam, is out as an ebook and audiobook on 22 October, with the hardback following on 22 November and a UK book tour running from 17 to 26 October.
The book, Horner told The Independent, is a push against the version of him he feels has been built on screen.
“I hope people see a different side to me than what is portrayed, particularly through some of the documentaries that exist. I’ve tried to lift the lid on the real person behind the team uniform.”
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‘She was phenomenal’
Horner described the final 18 months at Red Bull as a difficult period, and told the paper his wife Geri Halliwell was the person who kept him upright through it. He credited her with telling him during the worst of it that the higher you rise, the sharper the knives.
An internal Red Bull investigation into misconduct allegations by a female employee was dismissed twice, and he has consistently denied the claims.
A separate loss has shaped the memoir. His former partner Beverley Allen, mother of his daughter Olivia, died last year of eye cancer at the age of 58. Horner has said he is now acutely aware of his own mortality.
‘Not in a rush’
Horner is not ruling out another team principal role, but he told The Independent he is not pushing for one. Any return would have to be for the right project, he said, noting that F1 has 11 teams with the prospect of a 12th and that he was content with what he is doing now.
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He is working as a consultant with Oakley Capital on Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup project and spending time with Halliwell, their nine-year-old son Monty and the eight racehorses they own together.
Drive is released on 22 October, with Horner’s UK tour starting on 17 October.
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