On Thursday we welcomed 40 race fans to the Factory for a unique insight into the BACKSTAGE world of Red Bull Racing.

Ten Fanzone competition winners brought along a guest of their choice while ten Formula One bloggers did the same to create the 40-strong bunch of petrolheads to collectively consume a dose of what gives us our wiings.

The troop started out in a Q and A session with our Team Principal Christian Horner – quizzing him on just about every aspect of F1 imaginable. Our favourite question from the floor? “Christian, which drivers, from any era, would constitute your dream team if you couldn’t have Seb and Mark?” Our boss’ answer: Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna.

Next up, Sebastien Buemi took up the baton in the viewing gallery above our race bays to talk about what it actually feels like to drive an F1 car and what Silverstone is like as a track.

Everyone loves surprises though right? Up until this point, our guests day had been following the itinerary we sent out to them but at this point we ushered them down into the race bays for something a little bit special…

Pit-stop practice! That’s right, our fans, in teams of three, were given instructions from our pit stop crew on how to change a tyre, watched a few demonstrations and then we timed their own efforts before rounding off their visit with a Factory tour and team photo.

We were treated to fans from all over the world – some all the way from Australia, some from Belgium and some from just down the road here in Milton Keynes. We also had one young lady who happened to be celebrating her birthday.

It was great to hear about their backgrounds and F1 stories. One of our Aussie friends even compared winning the competition to what he imagined winning the lottery would be like – goose bumps ‘n all!

So thanks to all those who came – we hope you had a good day.