Horner in no rush to change

Speaking for the first time about his new role as sporting director of RBR, Horner insisted that he wanted to sit back and look at the way the team was operating before making any decisions about what to change after replacing former chiefs Tony Purnell and David Pitchforth.

"I need to understand how the company operates, what the structure is and take a good look at what its strengths and weaknesses are," he told autosport.com. "There is no rush to make any changes.

"There is a good group of people here and I have got no pre-conceived ideas regarding change. I just want to have a good look and use the next month to have a close look at all the systems and how it works operationally.

"You can see from the personnel I have met already that they are a very motivated group of people and they are keen to go racing."

Although Horner's surprise promotion means that, aged just 31, he is the youngest of the current bunch of team bosses - he is adamant that he is ready for the extreme challenge that will await him during Red Bull's first campaign with its own team.

"The fundamental of running a racing team is that it is essentially a people sport," explained the championship winning F3000 team boss. "Obviously David and Tony have done a good job here and there are some good people here, which was obviously evident during the last couple of years.

"They showed they were capable of putting a car on the front row at Malaysia last year, so there is a good basis and a good nucleus. Red Bull have come into this open-minded, they want to be competitive and they have presented me with an opportunity which hopefully I can deliver for them.

"I don't deny that there is a big task ahead, but I am confident that with the strong racing spirit we can move the team forwards and punch above our weight."