F1 | Christian Horner outbid the rest to win Mercedes factory tour
Christian Horner will visit a rival team's factory once again after winning a charity auction at the Autosport Awards. This will be Horner's second tour of a team's base of operations after his 2008 visit to the MTC.
The 2021 F1 season had its fair share of surprises in an unforgettable year which concluded with Max Verstappen claiming a maiden F1 Drivers’ World Championship. Now, in 2022 we may have had our first unexpected event seeing how Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner has been successful in his bid for a tour of none other than the Mercedes F1 factory.
Christian Horner is no stranger to a tour of a rival F1 team’s factory seeing how he and Adrian Newey were previously invited back in 2008 by their driver of the time David Coulthard to visit the McLaren Technology Center. On this occasion, Coulthard had outbid his rivals in a recent Formula 1 charity auction.
Having won the top prize of a tour of the MTC, conducted by McLaren Group COO of the time Martin Whitmarsh, the Scottish racer would not visit on his own. Alongside him was F1 Commentator Martin Brundle as well as Red Bull Racing’s team principal Christian Horner and executive director of engineering Adrian Newey.
Adrian Newey was of course no stranger to McLaren having previously worked as McLaren Racing’s technical director until 2005. Following recent events, Adrian Newey looks set for another factory tour after Christian Horner successful bid at a charity auction.
During the Autosport Awards, which took place this past Sunday in London, the star-studded event featured a charity auction. Christian Horner only joined the bidding after a few other offers had been generated. Having seen off all other interested parties, Horner claimed the prize with a winning bid of £4,000.
Speaking exclusively with Dieter Rencken’s RacingNews365.com, when quizzed on his intention for the prize, the Red Bull Racing team boss quipped that he would have "about 20" people accompany him on the tour.
"Adrian [Newey, Red Bull Racing’s Chief Technical Officer], myself, Pierre Waché [Red Bull Racing’s Technical Director] and probably Paul Field, our Director of Production…it'll be interesting to go and see how they're spending their budget cap". However, before the accusations start flying, Christian Horner was very clear that his successful bid of £4,000 was for a "great cause".
In his comments to racingnews365.com, Christian Horner recalled his 2008 trip to the MTC and surely expects more of the same from his upcoming tour of the Mercedes factory.
"DC invited us and Martin Whitmarsh was there. I went with Adrian; he obviously knew his way around and everywhere he wanted to go we weren't allowed! I think we saw the marketing and electronics departments, and had a very nice lunch, and that was about it!"
Therefore, no Mercedes fan should be worried about any secrets being seen from the so-called other side. Instead, they should delight in the fact that such a sum was raised for such a great cause seeing how all the proceeds from Sunday’s charity auction will go to the Grand Prix Trust.
For over three decades the Grand Prix Trust has provided help and advice to Formula One’s trackside and factory-based team personnel, along with everybody directly involved in our great global sport, to help put their lives back on track when things go wrong.
The relationship between Mercedes’ team boss Toto Wolff and Christian Horner certainly ‘went wrong’ at points in 2021. After such an intense battle and some much-needed time off, this act of charity could be the foundation for a rekindling of their relationship to be built on. Should that come to pass, then it would not only be the Grand Prix Trust benefiting from the auction but F1 as a whole.
