“Nobody Else Can Do It!”: Ex-Red Bull Driver Recalls Christian Horner’s Pep Talk Before Nervous F1 Break

Former Red Bull test driver Karun Chandhok’s journey to Formula 1 was anything but straightforward. After years of struggling to find sponsorship and opportunities, he had nearly given up on his F1 dream by the end of 2005. His prospects seemed to be shrinking until a victory in GP2 gave him a glimmer of hope.

In 2007, Chandhok won a GP2 race in Spa-Francorchamps, catching the attention of Formula 1 teams. And it wasn’t long after when Red Bull reached out to Chandhok with an unexpected offer.

They decided to give him a test run in their Formula 1 car, but first, he needed to complete a stint in the Red Bull simulator. This was a big opportunity, but things didn’t go as planned.

Chandhok struggled with severe motion sickness in the simulator, an issue he hadn’t anticipated and kept throwing up. “I just kept getting ill. I kept feeling motion sickness,” Chandhok was quoted on F1’s official website.

Nervously, he approached Christian Horner to explain the situation. However, Horner’s response was surprising and comforting. Instead of being upset, Horner laughed and reassured Chandhok, saying, “Oh, don’t worry… Mark Webber’s been sick in it, David Coulthard’s been sick in it – nobody else can do it!”

Despite the rough start, Red Bull followed through on their promise, and Chandhok was given the chance to test their F1 car at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in November 2007. The day turned out to be more special for Chandhok than he imagined. As he prepared to take his first lap, he realized he was directly behind one of his childhood heroes.

Chandhok was left in awe of Michael Schumacher

“Michael is one of my childhood heroes,” Chandhok explained that he had grown up idolizing Schumacher. “I was an Alain Prost fan growing up, then when he retired in 1994, I became a Michael fan.”

Seeing Schumacher’s iconic red helmet in front of him as they both headed onto the track was quite special for Chandhok, especially since the German was making a comeback to the track that day for a test with Ferrari. But Chandhok knew he couldn’t let his admiration distract him as he had a very important task at hand and that was to impress Horner.

“It was surreal seeing the red helmet in that car and to follow him out – an incredible moment. But very quickly, obviously, you have to get past that and realize you’re no longer a fan here, you’re actually driving and you’ve got a job to do,” Chandhok added.