Watch: When Christian Horner flaunted a Riccardo Patrese tribute helmet as he tested a Red Bull at Goodwood festival of speed

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner paid tribute to former F1 driver Riccardo Patrese when he credited the Italian for his helmet design at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed. The Austrian team celebrated 20 years at the pinnacle of motorsport in 2024 and brought out their multiple cars during the summer festival in the UK.

Drivers like Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, and even aero wizard Adrian Newey drove several Red Bull cars at the festival. Horner, who subbed in for Sebastian Vettel, wore a helmet design that was inspired by Patrese, who had raced in F1 for 16 years with teams like Williams, Brabham, and Benetton.

In a video floating on its social media platform, Instagram, Horner spoke about the helmet design and revealed:

"This was a helmet I had designed when I was in go-karts. I was always a fan of Riccardo Patrese, who ran blue lines on his helmet. So I suppose I borrowed a little bit from Riccardo then stuck a blue blob on the top. In 1989, I had pained my first helmet and it's never changed since."

Red Bull team principal was initially scared of racing the RB8, which took Sebastian Vettel took his third successive title in 2012.

Red Bull team principal expresses his emotions after driving the RB8

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner stated that he found the experience of driving an F1 car in decades "fun" and revealed that it was former four-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel's idea of subbing in for the latter.

In a video posted by the Austrian team on YouTube, the Brit experienced the thrill of driving the F1 car first at Silverstone and later at Goodwood. Horner told reporters after his drive in Goodwood, via Crash.net:

“It was fun. The first time I've driven a Red Bull car and certainly the first time with a hand clutch and two pedals. Sebastian Vettel was due to drive one of the cars here but he's on holiday with his family and wasn't able to make Goodwood so the guys suggested why don't you drive it?

"I haven't driven a single-seater since 1998 and a Formula One car since 1993. So I thought there was an opportunity yesterday to drive a car with a hand clutch and a left-foot brake. It was a great honor and a great privilege to drive one of these amazing cars, a championship-winning car."

Unfortunately, the Milton-Keynes outfit was unable to mark off a significant year in its history with another Constructors' Championship. They lost the title to McLaren and eventually finished in P3 behind the British team and Ferrari in the standings.