Christian Horner’s barbecue invitation turned down by half the F1 grid

Thomas Maher 12 Jul 2023 11:15 AM

Red Bull's Christian Horner at his barbecue. July 2023.

Christian Horner was a gracious host for half of the F1 drivers for a barbecue at his home, but the other half didn’t turn up!

Christian Horner has revealed he invited the entire F1 field of drivers back to his house for a barbecue over the British Grand Prix weekend but, when pressed, admitted only about half of them had turned up.

Posting a picture on Instagram, Horner was shown rustling up some heads of corn, burgers, chicken, and peppers in preparation for the arrival of the drivers.

Christian Horner: About half the drivers showed up

Speaking to the media, including PlanetF1.com, after the British Grand Prix, Horner revealed he’d put on a spread on Saturday night.

“I had all the drivers for a barbecue at my house last night and you just see they go straight into talking about moments on track,” he said.

“Their eyes light up about what happened here or there, or even in Formula 3 or karting.”

Asked whether all 20 had shown up, with his Oxfordshire home within an hour’s drive of the Silverstone circuit, Horner admitted it had only been about half of the field that had accepted his invitation.

Unsurprisingly, no details about which drivers accepted or otherwise were forthcoming, but it’s a safe assumption to make that both Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez would have visited Horner’s home, where Christian lives with his wife Geri Horner, formerly of the UK girl band the Spice Girls.

PlanetF1.com recommends

F1 2024 driver line-up: Who is confirmed for next season’s grid?

F1 Driver of the Day: Who has won the award in F1 2023?

Christian Horner does not fear Max Verstappen burnout

The conversation had come about as Horner was asked about Verstappen’s current level of motivation as the Dutch driver dominates the sport. Verstappen has made it clear he’s not interested in the extraneous details of being a Formula 1 driver, and has indicated he isn’t happy with the direction the sport is taking as sprint races are added and further Grands Prix to an ever-expanding calendar.

But as Verstappen reels off win after win en route to a seemingly certain third World title, Horner was asked whether there’s any risk of burnout?

“I don’t think burnout,” he said.

“You know, he’s a pretty laid-back character. He enjoys his racing. He loves his racing, but I don’t think he’ll be racing when he’s Brad Pitt’s age in Formula 1!

“He enjoyed racing with Lando [Norris] today. You can see that was good respect between the two of them. He’s a racer, he enjoys racing.”