Christian Horner bet against his own Red Bull driver; Punishment was to strip naked in front of team

Red Bull is currently enjoying arguably its best ever season in F1, with the team’s driver partnership of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez having won each of the eight races to have taken place so far this term.

The team also strode to its 100th ever F1 win, making it the sixth most successful outfit in the history of the sport.

Christian Horner. Credit: planetf1.com
Christian Horner. Credit: planetf1.com

While their recent past has been full of highs, there was a period when the team had just entered the sport and was still on the lookout for its first podium finish.

Horner was so confident that his team would fail in its attempts to make any significant progress over the 2006 season that he made a bet with their star driver David Coulthard that would eventually go down in Red Bull folklore.

Horner told Coulthard that he “would strip naked” if the team managed a grab a podium at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2006.

Undoubtedly buoyed by the apparent jibe by Horner, Coulthard was on a mission that day in Monaco and duly claimed a podium.

Horner discussed the event during a recent interview with Lissie Mackintosh, who was quick to remind him of the incident by showing him a picture.

Horner took a quick look at the picture and replied, “The whole team was very new but I showed my inexperience. I made a bet that if we got our first podium in Monaco, I would jump into the swimming pool naked because we had no chance of achieving it.

Christian Horner. Credit: reddit.com
Christian Horner. Credit: reddit.com

“But then David Coulthard did a great job during the race and with a bit of luck as well, we got that podium.

“Being a man of my word, I thought I had better fulfill the bet.”

Red Bull does, of course, have a long history of using the swimming pool to celebrate their wins in Monaco. The most famous incident was perhaps when Daniel Ricciardo jumped in following the 2018 race.

It was a particularly sweet moment for Ricciardo, who had seen his lead slip in the 2016 edition due to some poor pitstops by Red Bull. His triumph in 2018 has since famously been termed his ‘redemption’.

Meanwhile, 2022 was an occasion that saw Sergio Perez win the race and duly do a belly flop into the pool.

With Red Bull well and truly the most dominant team on the grid so far, do you expect one of their drivers to make a splash this season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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