Christian Horner’s ‘vivid moment’ that made him realise he wasn’t cut out for F1

Christian Horner realised he wouldn’t make it as an elite F1 driver after an encounter with Juan Pablo Montoya on track.

While Horner might have carved out a hugely successful career as the long-time team boss of the World Championship-winning team Red Bull, the young Horner had attempted a racing career hopeful of making it to F1 and becoming World Champion.

It started well, winning races through British Formula Renault and British Formula Three, moving up to Formula 3000 in 1997 after setting up his own team Arden. But, at the start of 1998, Horner met Juan Pablo Montoya on track and realised he would never make it as an elite F1 driver.

Christian Horner: Doubts started to creep in as I climbed through the ranks

Appearing on the Eff One podcast, Horner spoke about his years in the feeder series as he began to close in on Formula 1, having tested an F1 car with Lotus, but that his doubts had started to kick in even before his fateful incident with Juan Pablo Montoya.

“I lacked in the presenting of confidence,” Horner wryly smiled, when he was asked about the difference in how he presented himself versus his real confidence levels when at home in private.

“But I could just visualise that ‘ Yeah, I’m gonna do it one day, I’m gonna do it.’

“The problem is that, the higher you rise, the harder it gets. There’s more competition and the cars get faster and suddenly danger becomes prevalent.

“Suddenly, racing in a Formula 2 car and driving a Formula 1 car, I thought ‘Wow, this is getting serious. You could seriously mess your hair up in this.’

“There was something in me that started to build a little bit of a doubt, and a bit of a safety factor, particularly in some of the high-speed corners.”

Juan Pablo Montoya single-handedly dashes Christian Horner’s F1 dreams

Heading into the 1998 season, the second for Arden, Horner revealed he had already entered the season knowing he needed to find a new career path as Juan Pablo Montoya showed him what top-level drivers were capable of.

The Colombian, who won the International Formula 3000 title in 1997 with RSM Marko (yes, that Marko) and was already a Williams F1 test driver, would win the title again in 1998 and, along the way, dash the hopes of Horner.

“Getting brain and foot to connect at that point, I had a damper in between,” Horner said of his increasing uncertainty.

“In the slow-speed corners, you could be as quick as anybody because there’s less risk.

“But when you’re haring down the straight at over 200 miles an hour and you’re coming up to the corner that everybody’s telling you ‘ You know that’s flat-out.’

“Your brain is computing, and is going ‘That doesn’t look flat out to me’ and your heart is saying ‘No, come on, let’s get on with it’.

“My brain would often overrule my heart and say, ‘Come on. Let’s build a margin in here.’ Then you end up building up to it.

“The really good guys, they’ve just got a…