Nostalgia
Formula 1
Horner recalls meeting Senna after sneaking into pits
Red Bull Formula 1 team principal Christian Horner has revealed that as a teenage kart racer he met his hero Ayrton Senna at Silverstone – but only after he snuck through a hole in the fence.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Jul 13, 2019, 12:56 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Horner confessed his past as a trespasser when team bosses were asked to recall their first memories of the British Grand Prix venue.
At the time Senna was leading the world championship, and he would go on to secure his third title. Horner was a 17-year-old karter who would move into car racing the following year.
“One of my earliest memories coming here was back in [1991], shortly after I passed my driving test in my pimped-up Volkswagen Beetle,” Horner explained.
“They used to have a Goodyear tyre test here in June, the month before the grand prix.
“As an aspiring young karting driver I managed to find a hole in a fence – I don’t know whether it’s still there, around the corner from Copse, go through the tunnel, there’s a hole in the fence there.
"I crawled through that, I managed to get into the pitlane, and tried to pretend like I looked like I should be there.
“I had a karting jacket on at the time and came face to face with Ayrton Senna. It was a huge moment for me, he was one of my heroes.
"He’d had an accident on a jet ski and so he wasn’t doing a lot of driving, but he noticed the kart logo I had on my jacket and started asking me about karting. I thought, ‘I can’t top that! This day cannot get any better.’”
More British GP insights:
- British GP: All the winners since 1950
- British GP: Best images from Friday’s practice action
- British GP: Latest F1 tech updates, straight from pitlane
In fact it did, for Horner subsequently had the chance to see Williams star Nigel Mansell up close.
“I managed to sneak through a garage and get to the front of the pitlane and Nigel was testing his Williams," continued Horner. "I managed to get into [the] garage, God knows how, and overhear Nigel. They were asking him what was preventing him going faster through Becketts.
“I remember him saying, ‘I’m struggling to line my eyes up with my eye-sockets, because we’re so fast through there!'
“So that was a huge memory for me, just topped the day off. Meeting Senna, then Mansell, and then driving home in my very flash Volkswagen Beetle.”
Nigel Mansell, Williams FW14 Renault, Ayrton Senna, McLaren MP4/6 Honda
Photo by: LAT Images
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Ferrari has "significant" answer on cause of update struggles
Next article British GP: Bottas beats Hamilton to pole by 0.006s
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Latest news
Barcelona set to host IndyCar race in 2027 under multi-year deal
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 8 h
Barcelona set to host IndyCar race in 2027 under multi-year deal
Winners and losers from a Chase-altering NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
9 h
Winners and losers from a Chase-altering NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix
Heart of Racing rules Valkyrie GTP step next year ‘too soon’ for IMSA standout Barrichello
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 9 h
Heart of Racing rules Valkyrie GTP step next year ‘too soon’ for IMSA standout Barrichello
Sergio Perez: Debut Cadillac season "without a doubt one of my best years"
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
10 h
Sergio Perez: Debut Cadillac season "without a doubt one of my best years"
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe