One of Horner's most inspired decisions since setting up Red Bull in 2005 was to sign legendary designer Adrian Newey away from McLaren. Currently Newey still has a big impact on the squad, despite not being involved in the day-to-day design process.
But Horner feels that under technical director Pierre Wache the team has the strength in depth to chart its own course should Newey ever decide to fully step away.
"Adrian is a big part of this team and big part of what we've achieved," Horner said in an exclusive interview with Autosport. "But of course, his role has evolved over the last few years and the technical team beneath him led by Pierre Wache, they're doing a wonderful job and so that they're not reliant on Adrian.
"He has the ability to come in, come out and work on other projects and I think that's part of the evolution of any team."
Horner has likened the process of not relying on Newey's genius with football giant's Manchester United's purple patch of success around the turn of the century after its influential star player Eric Cantona had left.
"I was always a big fan of Manchester United, not as a Man United fan, but of Alex Ferguson, they had [Eric] Cantona and then they just evolved," he explained.
Source: Autosport