Horner on sneaking into Silverstone to meet F1 legends

Christian Horner's passion for racing once led the Red Bull team boss to skip school to sneak into Silverstone circuit to watch a day of F1 testing at the British track.

As a young karter with a big dream back in 1991, Horner closely followed Grand Prix racing and earmarked on his calendar an F1 tyre test at Silverstone a month before the British Grand Prix.

On the morning of Horner's D-day, the young aspiring champion got behind the wheel of his fake Porsche/real VW Beetle, purposefully steered clear of his school and made his way to Silverstone for an unforgettable experience.

• Horner admits Red Bull RB16 'still misbehaving'

"With the British Grand Prix up next, I was remembering back to 1991 and one of my earliest F1 memories," he told the Red Bull website.

"I had not long had a driving licence and had an imitation Porsche that was really a Beetle, with a Porsche spoiler on the back and exhausts out of the side.

"Back then, Goodyear were the tyre suppliers and they used to do two days of testing at Silverstone around a month before the British GP.

"I had been to Silverstone previously to see Johnny Herbert in a Formula 3 car, I’d also seen Eddie Irvine in Formula Ford, but this was the first time I saw an F1 car driving around the circuit.

"So I sneaked a day off school and instead of driving there, I drove to Silverstone. I managed to find a hole in the fence and made it into the pit lane. Having got in there, I definitely wasn’t going to leave."

Not only did he not leave, the future team principal got a lot more what he had bargained for.

"I managed to get in front of the Williams garage, who had developed a phenomenally quick car that Nigel Mansell was testing — which would have been one of Adrian [Newey’s] cars.

"I met Nigel and he was very generous with his time. I then went to the back of the pits and I bumped into Ayrton Senna.

"We stood face-to-face and he saw the jacket I was wearing, which was from one of the karting teams that I drove for. He recognised the kart manufacturer and started asking me about karting.

"So not only had I seen Nigel, who was my boyhood hero, I also met this other icon in Senna.

"So driving home in my Volkswagen Beetle, I was over the moon. It did not help my A Levels, but I had a great day!"

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter