Christian Horner, the team principal of Red Bull, has taken a swipe at the team’s opponents, arguing that the team doesn’t operate as a “political organization” but rather challenges in the field of racing.
In contrast to Max Verstappen’s dominance in the Formula 1 championship this season, Red Bull was criticized for exceeding the budget cap established the season before. The cap was implemented to create a fair playing field for sides with drastically diverse finances.
Helmut Marko, the current advisor to Red Bull, pointed out that there was “a lot of politics” involved when the FIA imposed the “draconian penalty” on them. Red Bull was given a 10% decrease in wind tunnel time and a £6 million fine for the upcoming season after it was discovered that the team had exceeded the budget cap by £1.8 million.
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Rivals of Red Bull have criticized the punishment for not being severe enough. Horner, on the other hand, has responded by claiming that his squad has been the focus of animosity because of their on-track achievements.
Horner said to Mirror: “Off-track, we’ve firmly had a target on our back this year, We’re a race team. We’re not a political organisation.”
“We just focus on going racing and we’re hard racers, we push the boundaries, which is what race teams do if they want to succeed. That’s always been our approach. It’s always worked well for us. It’s the way we enjoy competing. At times, it’s felt it has been tough this year. That’s unfortunately Formula 1.”
Red Bull had a terrible beginning to the season on the track as Verstappen didn’t complete two of the first three races, although he did take home the victory in the second. The Dutchman thereafter went on a remarkable run of success, winning 15 out of the 22 races in the season and the overall title.
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Sergio Perez, his teammate, won two races as well and came in third on the driver’s standings. Verstappen won the driver’s championship with four races left to finish the season, and Horner attributes his teams’ performance to “effectively managing the car” in beating rivals, Ferrari Scuderia.
He added: “We just kept efficiently developing the car, managing to lose a bit of weight, and Max has been in sensational form this year. You think back to some of the races earlier this year, it was so tight in the early races with Ferrari – you think of Miami, Saudi, even Bahrain. It’s been an incredible season for us.”
