Horner to drive Red Bull F1 car at this year’s Festival of Speed

Red Bull has confirmed its car and driver lineup for the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it will celebrate 20 years in Formula 1. Drivers for the team past and present will be in action, as well as team principal Christian Horner, who will be driving the team’s 2012 double championship-winning RB8. While it’s not the first time a senior member of the Red Bull team has driven one of its cars at Goodwood – chief technical officer Adrian Newey has driven the RB1, RB5, RB7, and RB8, as well as the Toro Rosso STR3 there over the years – it will be Horner’s first time. Although best known as leading the team since its founding, Horner previously raced on Europe’s open-wheel ladder, competing in British Formula Renault, British Formula 3, and Formula 3000 in the 1990s before transitioning into team management. Also in the lineup is the team’s first two drivers, Christian Klien and David Coulthard, who will be driving the RB1 (2005) and RB9 (2013) respectively, Mark Webber, who will drive the 2010 RB6 which almost gave him a maiden F1 title, and Daniel Ricciardo in the RB7 from 2011. A notable absence, however, is Sebastian Vettel, who claimed Red Bull’s first four Drivers’ championships, although the cars he won those titles in will all be running. The team’s current drivers Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen will also be in action. Perez will be driving last year’s RB19, the most successful Formula 1 car of all-time, while Verstappen will get back behind the wheel of the 20221 RB16B that he drove to his first title in 2021. For Verstappen, it will not only be his Festival of Speed debut, but it will also mark the first time a reigning F1 champion has attended the event held annually in West Sussex, England. Goodwood will also host the public debut of the RB17, Red Bull’s track-bred hypercar designed by Newey. The car is Red Bull’s first venture into the customer car market – although it is not expected to have a road-legal variant like the similar Newey-penned Aston Martin Valkyrie. Only 50 of the V8 twin-turbo machines are set to be produced, each with a reported price tag in the region of $6.2 million. Niki Lauda, Shadow, and Joest Racing are among the other names being celebrated at this year’s Festival of Speed, which has the central theme of ‘Horseless to Hybrid – Revolutions in Power’, exploring the evolution of the entire motoring industry.