Hi there,
Oleg Karpov here. It's a short break between two triple-headers on the Formula 1 calendar, but our journalists have certainly been busy.
We talked to Christian Horner — and he had plenty to say
Have you ever wanted to sit on a couch with a former F1 team principal? And not just any team principal, but one whose team won multiple world championships with different drivers? Well, Stuart Codling has done it for you, and our video crew made sure you can sit comfortably on your own couch and watch it as if you were speaking to Christian Horner yourself.
He's releasing his new book, Drive, soon – and we used this opportunity to pay him a visit at his house to talk about his F1 career. From inheriting a team in which, you may be shocked to hear, Guenther Steiner was technical director, to luring Adrian Newey away from McLaren and turning Red Bull into a team that won multiple world championships with Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, Horner has plenty of experience with the lows and highs of F1.
Horner was often portrayed as a villain in Formula 1, and whether that's fair or not, he certainly seemed comfortable in that role. Codders also asked him about the booing he received at the F1 75 event last year – and got a perfect response, which actually came from Horner's ex-Spice Girl wife. "It was actually Geri that said to me, 'Just remember, they only boo when they care.'"
He's controversial, polarising, and whatever you think about him, F1 needs characters exactly like that. Read the comments under the video and you'll see hundreds of people wishing for him to return to the grid.
Where he might return remains the question, though – because the role of an F1 team principal has also evolved in recent years. "They're employees pretty much now, aren't they?" Codders put it to Christian. And that question itself raises further doubts about whether he'd really be able to come back and have as much control anywhere else as he had at Red Bull.
Judging by the number of views this interview keeps attracting, it's obvious he remains one of motorsport's biggest characters.
In other news, while Stuart was making himself comfortable in Horner's kitchen, Fil Cleeren had to take a detour instead of heading straight home after the Singapore Grand Prix. He made his way to Kigali, the Rwandan capital, which, as F1 has just announced, will host a race.
When exactly remains unknown. And while some might find it confusing that F1 has announced a race without even having a date for when it will happen, there was a good reason for that.
Fil spoke to Stefano Domenicali, Rwandan politicians and track designers Alex Wurz and Carsten Tilke about the project, which will bring F1 back to Africa for the first time in more than three decades. You'll find the answers to the biggest questions you may have in his long read on Motorsport.com – and his personal impressions of the place in his Autosport column, in which he also addresses the inevitable issue of sportswashing surrounding F1's decision to race in Rwanda.
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Let me know what you think.
Best,
Oleg
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