Viaplay’s lead F1 commentator, Nelson Valkenburg, has revealed why Christian Horner was always ‘super frustrating’ to interview during his tenure as the head of Red Bull Racing.

Christian Horner has often been regarded as one of the best team principals in F1 history when it comes to the political side of leading an outfit in the pinnacle of motorsport.

His prowess in the area came to light again following the FIA’s snub of Red Bull during their new-for-2026 assessments over which teams should receive ADUO.

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While team principal Laurent Mekies is adamant he has fought tooth and nail to have the results overturned, F1 paddock figures have voiced their opinion that Horner would have ensured Red Bull would not have been overlooked.

However, the flip side to the British executive’s impressive finesse is that he was often a tough cookie to crack during interviews, as revealed by F1 commentator Nelson Valkenburg.

Why Christian Horner was nicknamed the ‘squash court of motorsport’

The 52-year-old has been back in the headlines in recent weeks due to a new memoir he is promoting regarding his time inside the paddock as Red Bull’s top F1 chief.

As such, Horner has been spilling all about his highly successful tenure, including details about Red Bull’s initial signing of design genius Adrian Newey, as well as aiming digs at his former colleagues such as Helmut Marko.

“I called him the ‘squash court of motorsport’, because everything you fired at him came back,” Valkenburg began. “He was such a politician.

“I mean, credit to him, but every interview, every question went, ‘Well, look…’ And then he gave himself some time to not answer your question and answer the question that he wanted you to ask.

“He’s a very nice guy; I worked well with him, but super frustrating to interview. Every time you had something to put your teeth into, he would just fire it back at you with no answer.

“Credit to him, he survived very long because of it, probably. He’s one of the most politically adept operators that has held a team principal role.”

Amid the imminent release of the memoir, Horner continues to try and find his way back into the F1 paddock in a full-time capacity.

He seemingly made a play for Fred Vasseur’s job at Ferrari as question marks loomed over the Frenchman’s future last month, only for the Briton to go back on his words and assert he isn’t interested.

Horner remains on the sidelines as this year’s season begins to turn its attention to next year, with it still up in the air whether we will ever see the former Red Bull chief leading another Formula 1 team.