For Betting Against His Own Team, Red Bull Boss Was Forced to Strip Naked: “We Had No Chance…”

Red Bull is currently in their eighteenth season in F1 and is already one of the most successful teams in the sport after recently having grabbed their 100th victory. The Milton Keynes outfit is the sixth most successful team in history with five Constructors’ Championships and six Drivers’ Championships.

However, despite their recent success, there was a time when team principal Christian Horner even had doubts about their first podium. Since he was so confident of his team’s lack of progress back in 2006, he made an audacious bet with star driver David Coulthard.

Horner told Coulthard that if the 52-year-old managed to grab a podium at the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, then he would “strip naked“. And as it so happened, Horner had to live up to his promise after Coulthard clinched a podium.

“I showed my inexperience“: Christian Horner reflects on his bet

While speaking in a recent interview with Lissie Mackintosh, Christian Horner reflected on the bet he made at the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix. Mackintosh reminded Horner of the moment by showing him a picture of the same.

After looking at the picture, Horner 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“.

“But then David Coulthard did a great job during the race and with a bit of luck as well, we got that podium,” explained Horner. “Being a man of my word, I thought I had better fulfill the bet.” It is fair to say that Horner’s visual of jumping into the pool virtually naked made quite the visual for fans.

Red Bull has a long tradition of swimming pool celebrations in Monaco

Red Bull has a long history of using the swimming pool for their celebrations in Monaco. The most famous arguably was the time when Daniel Ricciardo jumped into the pool after the 2018 edition of the race.

The Australian finally managed to win one of the most prestigious races on the calendar on that occasion, having failed to do so in the 2016 edition when he saw his lead slip because of a disastrous pit stop made by Red Bull. Since Ricciardo set the record straight in 2018, his win was famously termed as redemption.

Red Bull’s current driver Sergio Perez also celebrated in a similar fashion after his win in Monaco in the 2022 edition. The Mexican celebrated by performing a belly flop into the swimming pool. Since Red Bull is currently the dominant team in F1, they could have many more such celebrations in future editions of the Monaco GP.