Horner Replaces Purnell at Red Bull

Red Bull Racing named Christian Horner as the new boss of their Formula One team on Friday after dismissing Tony Purnell and David Pitchforth.

The Austrian-owned team said in a statement that the 31-year-old Briton, head of the championship-winning Arden F3000 junior team, had been appointed sporting director with immediate effect.

"Horner will jointly manage Red Bull Racing together with a new technical director, whose appointment will be announced within the next week," the team said.

No reasons were given for the changes, which followed assurances by Red Bull last year they would retain the management inherited from the Jaguar Racing team bought by Austrian billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz from Ford in November.

A team source told Reuters that German-speaking Italian Guenther Steiner, Jaguar Racing managing director when Austrian Niki Lauda was in charge of that team, could be in line for a return to Formula One.

Purnell took over as Jaguar team principal from Lauda in 2002. Pitchforth was managing director.

"There's a complete state of shock in the organisation," the team source said as the news filtered out.

Briton David Coulthard is due to race for the team this season. The second driver has yet to be decided, with Austrian Christian Klien and Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi rivals for the seat. The Autosport.com website suggested on Thursday that divisions had emerged between Red Bull's Austrian management and the team's bosses over strategy.

"Mr Pitchforth must recognise that he is an employee and not an owner," it quoted Red Bull's director of motorsport Helmut Marko as saying. "All decisions will be taken in Salzburg and not in England."

Liuzzi won last year's F3000 title with Horner, who has been seeking a move into Formula One for some time. He was most recently negotiating to buy into the struggling Jordan team, with Chinese backing.

Horner becomes the youngest Formula One team principal, although there is no doubt that Mateschitz and Marko will call the shots.

The Briton, a former racer in the F3000 series that served as the main support category at Grand Prix weekends before being replaced for this year by a new GP2 series, founded Arden International in 1997 when he was the team's sole driver.

Horner continued to drive in 1998 before dedicating himself solely to management. Arden won their first title in 2000.

Red Bull are the second team to change bosses in the space of two months. BAR, second in the 2004 championship, replaced David Richards with Nick Fry, 48, in November.

The season starts in Australia on March 6.