Formula 1’s Netflix show, Drive to Survive, is back for an eighth season and the main talking point is centred around now-former Red Bull boss Christian Horner.
Horner became the villain of F1 after news emerged of a texting scandal involving him and a female member of his staff. After allegations of inappropriate behaviour made against the former team principal were dismissed, some of the alleged messages were leaked, which intensified the scrutiny surrounding both Horner and the team. Internal issues began within the Red Bull team which ultimately led to Horner being relieved of his duties in July of last year.
At the F175 launch event at London’s O2 Arena last year, Christian Horner received quite a frosty reception from the crowd as boos rained down on the then Red Bull boss. In the clip, you can hear the crowd’s displeasure as Horner is called onto stage. The camera then pans to a number of different F1 drivers backstage, including Liam Lawson and Max Verstappen, who look at each other in shock and disbelief.
We then see Lewis Hamilton, who is surrounded by his Ferrari team, including their team principal, Fred Vasseur, and Charles Leclerc, as the Brit pulled a playful face as if he knew what was about to happen.
Christian Horner Gives Theory Behind Why He Was Booed
During the episode, which became available to stream this past week, Horner commented on the situation, saying: “When you become a serial winner, the audience, they don’t want to see that. In F1 there’s this element of pantomime. We’re now like the Kardashians on wheels, but I’m way past even caring what other people think.”
It seems that the husband of former Spice Girls member Geri Halliwell was trying to deflect the real reasons for the crowd’s reactions, trying to put the noise down to his and Red Bull’s success over the past few years.
Rival team principals offered their say on the situation, with Zak Brown, the CEO of McLaren, attempting to stoke the fire at Red Bull, by saying on the episode: “To go up there and then come sit down next to your team, your sponsors, that would be pretty uncomfortable.”
Horner again doubled down on his claims as to why the crowd were booing him by continuing: “That’s what makes us who we are. This isn’t a popularity contest, it’s F1, and you’re judged on the result sheet at the end of the day. It’s easier to be the hunter rather than the hunted and, of course, for us, anything outside of total domination, you know, it’s not good enough.”
Whether Horner genuinely believed the booing was because of his success or if he was just trying to remain ignorant to the universally accepted reason remains to be seen. It does, however, look like series eight of Drive to Survive will be another unmissable one.
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