20/07/2025 12:47
Thankfully in F1, track invasions during grands prix are rare, but
they do happen from time to time. Examples include a disgruntled
Mercedes employee at the 2000 German GP, or the time in China in
2015 where a fan ran across the track during free practice and into
the pit-lane, apparently claiming that he thought "free practice"
meant fans were entitled to drive the cars. Another incident
occurred later in 2015 in Singapore when a fan went for a walk down
the track during the race, and seven years later at Silverstone,
protest group Just Stop Oil invaded the track at the start of the
race, although it had been suspended for the big first lap crash
for Zhou Guanyu. But the most infamous F1 track invasion happened
22 years ago today (July 20th), also at Silverstone. On lap 11,
just as UK broadcaster ITV was heading for a commercial break,
footage showed a man running down the Hanger Straight towards the
cars, holding placards and feigning towards them. Lead commentator
James Allen branded him a "lunatic" as race control quickly
deployed the safety car as marshal Stephen Green man-handled the
protester, and his signs saying: 'Read the Bible, the Bible is
always right' off the track. The invader turned out to be a former
Irish priest named Neil Horan and was promptly charged with
trespassing. He was found guilty and sent to prison for two months.
Rubens Barrichello of Ferrari, who had incidentally won at
Hockenheim in 2000, also went on to win the race after Horan's
invasion. However, that was not the end of Horan's invasions.
Police arrested him just before the 2004 Epsom Derby horse race,
and he directly affected the result of the 2004 Men's marathon at
the Athens Summer Olympic Games. He pushed leader Vanderlei de Lima
into the crowd with just 4.2 miles remaining, with the Brazilian
holding a comfortable 25s lead. Losing 10 seconds in the incident,
de Lima then suffered with cramps and spasms as he fell away to
third, with an appeal by the Brazilian Olympic federation for a
gold medal being rejected. At the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany,
Horan was arrested after planning a protest at the final, whilst he
then appeared on UK talent show Britain's Got Talent in 2009 before
being removed when his true identity was discovered. One of his
last public actions came in 2013 when he joined the waiting outside
the hospital for the birth of the first child of Prince William and
Catherine Middleton. He claimed that then Monarch Queen Elizabeth
II would be the last British sovereign, despite the fact that
another future one in Prince George, had been born.
