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There have been a lot of well-known nicknames in Formula 1. We have some well-loved ones like Chilli for Carlos Sainz, Honey Badger for Daniel Ricciardo, and even Iceman for Kimi Raikkonen. And then we have the ones born out of memes, like Nikita Mazespin. However, Christian Horner may have it worse than the swirling Russian driver.

Karen Horner is a beloved personality on the Red Bull pit wall and is often seen on the front lines in Mercedes and FIA battles. Jokes aside, Karen Horner was the name given to the Red Bull team boss for his radio antics in the time of an inconvenience. First surfacing at the 2021 British GP, the Karen Horner meme has become a running joke.

How did Christian Horner acquire the nickname?

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In a season dotted with controversies, Christian Horner has often had to step up the FIA for Max Verstappen. His arguments, gave him the ‘Karen’ tag- referencing the pop culture phenomena of Karens wanting to speak with the manager. As a result, throw on the Karen hairstyle on Horner and there you have it: Karen Horner.

It started at Silverstone when a collision with Hamilton saw Verstappen in the walls. In his attempts to give Hamilton a more serious penalty than the 10-seconds, fans started creating memes on the team principal.

Further, Horner had some harsh things to say, as he labeled Hamilton’s home victory as hollow. Although he is known for his competitiveness, fans now deemed Horner’s arguments as petty. Hence, Karen- the typically entitled and demanding.

Read more: Fans React as Photo Between Ferrari F1 Boss and Daniel Ricciardo Goes Viral

Although the origins of the meme are relatively old, they reach the trending section pretty easily. More recently, in the high-tensions of the 2021 Qatar GP, the meme came alive again. With Red Bull fighting relentlessly for an investigation into Mercedes’ rear wing, we don’t blame Twitter for the memes.

Looking back at the Karen Horner memes

Good ol’ Christian Horner really sets himself up for these moments on Twitter; and Twitter? F1 fans go wild at the opportunity presented to them.

At a point there was also a Twitter account for Karen Horner. Although the username is changed now, there’s some hilarious tweets from the archives.

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Surely it will be a long time till we see the end of the Karen Horner memes as Christian Horner’s fight against Mercedes is almost never-ending. Good for us, we get the entertainment out of it!

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