Christian Horner revealed that Red Bull had the opportunity to evaluate George Russell, Lando Norris, and Oscar Piastri before any of them had reached Formula 1, with all of them impressing in the simulator, but not joining the team’s Drivers’ Academy.
The Briton recounted the story during his appearance on the High Performance podcast, noting that the trio even used the facilities at the Milton Keynes factory in their pursuit of the dream to reach the category. At the time, their performances stood out when compared with other names already backed by the Austrian team.
“I remember George Russell paying to use our simulator; the same happened with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, their parents would issue payments so they could use the driving simulator we had. The person in charge of the equipment came up to me and said: ‘Christian, these kids are better than the development drivers we have at the moment’,” he recounted.
“I remember taking them to Helmut and saying: ‘I truly believe you should take a look at these guys’”, he added.
Later, when the trio reached Formula 1, Horner joked about his frustration at letting them slip away. “Idiots. Just look at who this ended up working out for in the end,” he concluded.
