Red Bull Racing F1 team principal Christian Horner recently shared some of his thoughts in relation to his team and Max Verstappen for TIME magazine.
The 2021 was one of the most exciting, closest, and most controversial seasons in the history of Formula One. The battle for the Championship was between Red Bull and Mercedes.
Mercedes team came into the 2021 season with seven consecutive Drivers' and Constructors Championships from the year 2014.
While Silver Arrows won the eighth Championship that year, Max Verstappen snatched the driver's Championship from Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the season's last race.
The season was full of controversial moments like a collision between Hamilton and Verstappen at Silverstone or Monza, or the Azerbaijan Grand Prix where both drivers failed to achieve a single point.
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner remembered the 2021 season as he told TIME magazine there had been a lot of pressure from Mercedes on FIA after the final race.
"There was a lot of pressure on the FIA after 2021, especially from our biggest competitor, to say, there’s a reason [why Red Bull won] and this and that and the other."
Ever since 2021, Red Bull kept only winning and collected two more Drivers' and 2 Constructors' titles in 2022 and 2023. Horner says, "The more you win, the less friends you have."
"The more you win, the less friends you have. We’ve done a lot of winning. So you can imagine, we don’t have a lot of friends."
According to TIME magazine, the Mercedes team declined to respond to Horner's comments. But it is fair to say the team was not happy with how the 2021 season ended.
Nevertheless. the teams do not necessarily have to hate each other. Starting from the example of Mercedes and Red Bull principals, they both have mutual respect for each other.
At the same time, they know that both of them will do what it takes to help their own team win and they don't take it personally if there is disagreement.
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