Christian Horner admits he was surprised by Toto Wolff’s ‘dramatic’ decision to stick with the ‘failed’ zero side-pods concept in 2023

Mercedes boss, Toto Wolff shared ahead of the 2023 season that W14 will be an evolution of W13 and would not emulate Red Bull's design.

Christian Horner admits he was surprised by Toto Wolff’s ‘dramatic’ decision to stick with the ‘failed’ zero side-pods concept in 2023

Toto Wolff and Christian Horner (Via IMAGO)

The 2022 downforce era marked a shift in dominance, with Red Bull emerging as the force to reckon with. Their 2021 rivals, Mercedes, slipped from their throne after eight years of domination, landing in the midfield due to a failed design concept known as the “zero-pod” configuration. Twelve months later, widespread anticipation surrounded the German racing team’s strategy, with many expecting them to emulate Red Bull’s design. 

However, much to everyone’s surprise, Mercedes stuck to their guns, maintaining their initial design, leaving Red Bull’s team principal, Christian Horner, notably taken aback. Mercedes, along with Ferrari, having faced challenges in the 2022 season, were projected to narrow the gap with Red Bull. Astonishingly, both teams opted against embracing Red Bull’s design philosophy, resulting in a substantial disparity in performance. 

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The Red Bull’s team boss, in a conversation with Autosport.com, took a sly dig at Mercedes’ boss, Toto Wolff when probed about Wolff ditching the ‘zeropod’ concept, saying he “tends to be a little dramatic.” Sharing his astonishment at Mercedes’ decision to stick with their initial design concept, he said;

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We were very surprised to see Mercedes sticking with the concepts that had clearly failed the previous year.

In 2022, Ferrari and Red Bull fought for the title and it was expected that Ferrari would take their fight to Red Bull in 2023 as well. However, that was not the case which prompted Horner to say;

Ferrari had a very good car last year, and the natural evolution of that, we expected it to be a very tight contender this year.

Christian Horner asserts that their triumph in Australia, after a challenging 2022, affirmed their superiority

While both Mercedes and Ferrari eventually embraced the Red Bull’s ‘downwash’ design concept later in the season, the initial choice raised eyebrows. Horner echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the unexpectedness of the decision by stating;

If you looked around the cars in pre-season, the cars that were closest in concept to us were the Aston Martin and McLaren.
Max Verstappen on the victor step of the Australian GP podium
Max Verstappen on the victor step of the Australian GP podium (Credits: Inside Sport)

Red Bull secured triumph in the season opener, maintaining momentum in Saudi Arabia. Cautious about circuit specificity, they hesitated to extrapolate success. Yet, Max Verstappen‘s win at Albert Park altered perceptions, marking a turnaround. In 2023, the script flipped, with Verstappen triumphing in Melbourne, a stark contrast to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc dominating the previous year.

Reflecting on this turnaround, Horner noted;

It's only when you've had a sample of two or three and you've gone to a couple of circuits that have been more troublesome, certainly for us the previous year, like Melbourne for example, that suddenly you're thinking, ‘ok, no, this is really together‘. And so yeah, it takes a sample of a few races to get a clear overview. Nobody was coming out of Bahrain getting too carried away.

Red Bull’s historic season, winning all but one race, prompted Ferrari and Mercedes to refocus on 2024. Both teams halted 2023 car development early in the season in an effort to close the gap to Red Bull next year.

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