Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has openly acknowledged that the team had put all efforts into the 2021 season and was even ready to sacrifice the current season.
Red Bull was off to a slow start in the 2022 season. However, the team quickly picked up the pace as it came back to challenge its main rival, Ferrari.
Eventually, Max Verstappen clinched his second world title in a row after winning the Japanese Grand Prix.
However, team principal Christian Horner has revealed things were not that simple especially going into the new season with the new regulations.
Horner doesn’t want to ‘erase’ Mercedes
Red Bull and Max Verstappen were involved in a fierce battle with Mercedes last year. The team put all their efforts to clinch the drivers’ title dramatically. In the latest podcast, Horner was asked if he is willing to ‘erase’ Mercedes from the grid. The Briton replied calmly to the question:
“No because it’s enjoyable racing against a team of their quality because they raise the stakes and they raise the bar.
The battle in 2021 was ultimately won by Max Verstappen in the last lap of the last race.
However, Horner now reveals that the team was ready for much more – even willing to sacrifice the 2022 season for the sake of 2021:
Horner added:
“And then we had to raise it higher to beat them. So the satisfaction that gives you is immense. And I think what we’re really proud of this year is that we’d put everything into last year, even at the expense of this year.
“Because again, another massive regulation change came in this year, the biggest in the last 40 years. We consoled ourselves by saying, ‘look, we’ll put more time into 2021. And if that costs us a slower start to 2022, we’ll take that if we can come away with a trophy.’
“We managed to come away with the trophy. But we also managed to start the season with a competitive car compared to all of the other teams. We were for sure the last team to swap over to the 2022 car. But such was the determination and the motivation within the business and the talent. The car that has been delivered for the drivers this year has been, again, phenomenal.”
There is indeed no doubt that Red Bull and Horner gave Max Verstappen a hugely competitive car this year.
If last year’s title win was fierce and controversial this year came with a joy of its own for the Dutch loin.
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