Christian Horner: Driving the RB8 I was just scared!

At Red Bull Racing’s anniversary show at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, dedicated to the team’s 20th anniversary, Christian Horner not only took part as leader: he had to replace Sebastian Vettel and drive the RB8 car.

Although he is a former racing driver, he has virtually no experience driving Formula 1 cars. We have already quoted his comments, which he shared on the eve of the weekend, but today Horner has completed this difficult but very honorable mission.

Christian Horner: “I love my job because we started this 20-year journey with the RB1 car, and our drivers were David Coulthard and Christian Klien, and now the team has 120 wins, 6 Constructors’ Championships and 7 Championship titles.

It’s a real privilege to work with all these drivers and Adrian Newey. The level of my respect for Formula 1 drivers has gone up immeasurably after today, because when I was driving the RB8 I was just scared!

I don’t even understand how they drive these cars on a circuit like Monaco, for example. Adrian Newey doesn’t leave any free space for the drivers in the cockpit when developing his creations. I can’t even imagine how Mark Webber would fit in there!

With an incredible 20 years behind us, we are proud of the achievements of the Austrian-owned but British-based team. We took our cars to Goodwood this weekend and showed our cars to thousands of fans, and it was an unforgettable experience that we thoroughly enjoyed.”

Naturally, Horner was asked if he would miss Adrian Newey, who will finally retire from Red Bull at the end of this year when work on the RB17 hypercar is completed.

“So many interesting things have happened over the years and Adrian is not only my colleague, but also a good friend,” the Red Bull Racing boss replied. “We have been through a lot together and of course we will miss him.” But we are incredibly proud of everything we have achieved with him and the whole team!”