Christian Horner thought for a long time in Abu Dhabi that Max Verstappen would lose the world title. Until five laps before the end of the race, the Red Bull Racing driver was well behind title competitor Lewis Hamilton, so Horner was already thinking about how he would pep up his team if they ended up going into 2022 without the World Cup. Bee CNN he explains how this felt, and he goes deeper into the enormous development that Verstappen has gone through.
“The last ten laps of the race I thought: what am I going to say to Verstappen? What do I say to the people in the garage? How am I going to ease the pain after such a year, in which we would have come so close?’, Horner looks back aloud at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He actually had no idea what to say in case his team had to hand over the world title in the last race of the year.
“That went through my head, while Adrian Newey was sitting next to me, hands in her hair,” he continues. Newey, Red Bull’s top designer, often takes a seat next to the team boss at the pit wall. The other Englishman also sympathized with the team when it seemed as if the drivers’ title would go to Hamilton for a fifth year in a row.
However, that didn’t happen. Nicholas Latifi put his Williams into the wall, triggered a safety car, and Red Bull took full advantage: ‘Then suddenly, bang. Suddenly we had an opportunity, an opportunity. We could do something and we knew Verstappen would go for it.’ With a pit stop, Red Bull enabled Verstappen to enter the final lap with a tire advantage, which the Dutchman obviously exploited.
Horner wins with Red Bull after eight years
It had been a while for Horner that he managed to win a world title as team boss. He experienced a period of dominance with Sebastian Vettel at the beginning of last decade, but since then Red Bull has never really managed to get to a real title fight. What has this period of perseverance meant for Horner? “I’ve aged 25 years on it,” he jokes. “We never stopped believing in that title. If you want it badly enough, anything can be achieved.’
“Mercedes has been very dominant in recent years and Hamilton is the best driver of all time. The fact that we could challenge that team and that driver, and beat them, gives us even more satisfaction,” he added. In the German race stable and its seven-time world champion, he saw worthy opponents, who will probably have to keep them from the title again in 2022.
Verstappen’s growth in F1
What did Red Bull bring to the 2021 title? Horner’s answer is crystal clear: ‘Max Verstappen.’ When asked to elaborate, Horner has been extremely impressed with his growth since joining the team: “He is evolving and maturing. He came in as a 17-year-old male, and is now a 24-year-old adult. That’s a big difference. He also grew up in the spotlight.’
“He drives with passion and a lot of courage. He has managed to show that well this year and hardly made any mistakes. It was a great season for him’, concludes Horner, who is sure to start the new year in good spirits. After all, he can enjoy the driving skills of his star driver for no fewer than 23 races. However, it is up to Red Bull to develop the material during the winter break to be able to initiate that title fight.
