How Horner rose to rule Red Bull...and stayed in control

Team principal initially had Bernie Ecclestone's backing in a sport where his heavyweight rivals would otherwise have eaten the upstart alive

- Richard Williams

When Christian Horner took his seat at a Formula One team bosses' meeting for the 30 first time in 2005, barely into his 30s and a surprise appointment to head the new Red Bull team, he was stepping into a world populated by legendary figures. Sir Frank Williams, Ron Dennis of McLaren and Jean Todt of Ferrari had spent their lives fighting and winning in a deeply complex, intensely competitive and highly politicised environment.

Horner might easily have been eaten alive, like so many before him, had he not benefited from the support of a patron whose power exceeded that of all his rivals.

Bernie Ecclestone, the ringmaster of F1, had spotted his potential in the previous decade. Emulating the choice Ecclestone himself made in the 1950s, Horner had recognised the limits of his ability as a racing driver and stepped out of the cockpit to pursue a career as a team manager and organiser.

Now, when the car with which Max Verstappen hopes to win a fourth drivers' championship in a row is rolled out during a media launch at the Red Bull headquarters scheduled for next Thursday, there is a chance, for the first time since the team was created, Horner will not be presiding over the show.

His survival as team principal appears to depend on the outcome of his meeting today with an independent lawyer who will examine allegations of inappropriate and controlling behaviour levelled against him by a female employee, and which Horner denies.

He has been in fights before, but not like this one, which comes 18 months after the death of the team's owner, the Austrian energy-drinks billionaire Dietrich.

Mateschitz, amid rumours of rifts at the top of a team whose dominance last season was reflected in a record 21 wins from 22 races.