Less than a decade ago, Christian Horner was just another young driver struggling to make his way in motorsport. Today Christian Horner takes the reigns of F1's newest team as Red Bull Racing completes final preparations for their maiden Grand Prix .

It is a rapid rise to success for the man from Leamington Spa in England, but I am sure he sees this as the start of the challenge rather than the achievement of a goal.

As a driver, Christian Horner enjoyed modest success in the lower echelons of British motorsport in the early to mid-Nineties.

He founded Arden Motorsport in 1997 in order to contest the international F3000 championship.

With Horner driving the team’s sole car, Arden gradually found their feet as the season wore on and scored points in the final two races of the year.

The team expanded to run two cars in 1998 with Kurt Mollekens joining Horner. The Belgian picked up several podium finishes on his way to sixth in the championship while his boss failed to score a point.

It was at this point that Horner, then 25, decided to hang up his helmet and concentrate his energies on running the team.

The Brit quickly established links with David Richards’ Prodrive organisation as he sought to take the team forward. Arden moved to a purpose-built factory within the bounds of Prodrive’s Banbury site in 1999.

Although they won the European F3000 team championship at their first attempt in 2000, the more prestigious international series proved a tougher nut to crack.

Even BAR test driver Darren Manning was unable to scoop that elusive first win.

But when the 2002 season begun – with Tomas Enge and Bjorn Wirdheim behind the wheel – Arden emerged as the team to beat.

They scored five wins on their way to the championship double – only for Enge to be stripped of his drivers’ title for failing a drugs test.

Wirdheim made amends in 2003 with a remarkably consistent season to ensure that Arden won both titles.

But it was 2004, F3000’s final year, which was to prove Arden’s crowning glory. 

Red Bull-backed Vitantonio Liuzzi dominated with seven wins in 10 races while team-mate Robert Doornbos claimed victory at Spa to finish third in the championship. Again, Arden were team champions.

As the season drew to a close, it became clear that Horner had bigger fish to fry. He was linked with a bid to buy Jaguar before Red Bull beat him to it.

Backed by a group of Chinese investors, he then switched his attentions to Jordan, but was unable to agree a deal with Eddie Jordan.

Just when he must have been resigning himself to a year spent in GP2 (the new series that will replace F3000), the opportunity to manage Red Bull has come up.

Arden will still enter a team in the inaugural GP2 championship, but Horner will not be involved in the day-to-day running of the team.

Christain Horner may have achieved considerable success in F3000, but Formula 1 is a big step up. Horner will be asked to hold his own in the "Piranha Club" with the likes of Ron Dennis, Frank Williams and Jean Todt, seasoned campaigners and imposing men who take no prisoners.

At 31, Horner is almost 20 years younger than any of his fellow team principals and is younger than his lead driver. Even Nick Fry, the new "young man" in charge at BAR, is 48.

(information from www.itv-f1.com)

As F1 enters a difficult time both economically and politically new young blood and a fresh approach is very welcome. We wish Christian & the team the very best for Melbourne.

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