Christian Horner set to spy on rival territory, wins bid for ‘Mercedes’ factory visit at charitable auction

Christian Horner set to spy on rival territory, wins bid for ‘Mercedes’ factory visit at charitable auction

Christian Horner and Toto Wolff

After an intense battle with the Mercedes F1 team in the 2021 season, Red Bull’s team principal, Christian Horner, at Autosport Awards Charity Auction, has managed to get himself a tour of the Mercedes F1 factory by bidding in the auction. Horner got the chance to bid, and it eventually earned him the tour to the rival’s factory for £4,000.

In an interview with racingnews365.com, Horner candidly spoke about taking roughly twenty people for the tour. Then he went on to name some of the well-known members of the staff of the team.

“Adrian [Newey, CTO], myself, Pierre Waché [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,” Horner said.

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Horner did so while highlighting that it’s all for a great cause as the proceedings of the auction go towards the Grand Prix Trust, which partakes in helping the staff on F1’s trackside along with the factory workers of teams. 

When Christian Horner visited McLaren’s factory

Toto Wolff and Christian Horner
Toto Wolff and Christian Horner

When it comes to rivals, it seems Mr. Horner keeps a close eye on them. Now that he may be visiting the rival’s factory soon, he already has some experience in that field from 2008, when he visited the McLaren’s factory. Horner visited McLaren along with Adrian Newey and David Coulthard. Both Newey and Coulthard have remained members of the McLaren’s and Red Bull F1 teams.

“DC invited us, and Martin Whitmarsh [McLaren boss] was there. I went with Adrian; he obviously knew his way around, and everywhere he wanted to go we weren’t allowed!,” said Horner. 

“I think saw the marketing and electronics departments and had a very nice lunch, and that was about it!,” added Horner while sharing his trip’s experience.

It’ll be exciting to see how the Red Bull’s chief visit to the Mercedes factory goes ahead of the 2022 season. With the tensions high between both the teams after the events of the finale of the 2021 season, Christian would be looking forward to observing all the nitty-gritty at the factory.

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