Christian Horner's spilled some proper tea on one of Red Bull's biggest missed opportunities. Back before George Russell, Lando Norris, and Oscar Piastri became proper F1 stars, all three of them paid to use Red Bull's simulator for training sessions. Their families were footing the bill for access to the equipment while they chased their F1 dreams, and honestly, they absolutely impressed the folks running the sessions.

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The simulator operator at Red Bull was buzzing about these three lads, apparently telling Horner that they were outperforming some of the juniors already in Red Bull's development programme. Horner even brought the feedback to Helmut Marko, who ran Red Bull's entire driver academy and was basically their talent scout. He reckoned they should seriously consider bringing these guys into the fold properly. But nothing came of it.

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Instead, all three drivers ended up building their F1 careers elsewhere. George Russell became a Mercedes junior and debuted with Williams in 2019. Lando Norris went the McLaren route and hit the grid that same year. Oscar Piastri was backed by Renault and Alpine before landing at McLaren for his 2023 debut. Pretty decent careers for three lads Red Bull decided to pass on, wouldn't you say?

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The real kicker is that Lando Norris went on to win the 2025 championship after actually beating Max Verstappen in the title fight. So when Horner reflects on that whole situation now, he doesn't hold back. He basically admits they completely dropped the ball on recognizing world-class talent when it was right there in front of them. Classic Red Bull missing the obvious play.

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