Christian Horner urges F1 to ‘leave the rules alone’ for a tight competition in 2024

Christian Horner pointed out the rapid convergence on the F1 grid this season.

Christian Horner urges F1 to ‘leave the rules alone’ for a tight competition in 2024

Christian Horner (image via The Star)

Red Bull Racing surpassed expectations at the start of the 2023 F1 season. The Milton Keynes-based team gained a massive lead over its rivals during the winter. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have won all the races so far this year. Now, Team Principal Christian Horner has urged Formula 1 not even to consider any rule changes if the sport wants to have close racing next season.

Horner claimed that F1 must not meddle with any changes to the regulations to allow for more convergence on the grid. The grid behind Red Bull has seen close competition between teams like Mercedes and Ferrari. The 49-year-old was convinced that the pecking order would be tighter. He said, as reported by Soymotor, “If you want matched races, leave the rules alone, and there will be convergence in the teams and also in the cars. I have a feeling that next year we will have a totally different fish cauldron.”

YouTube video

Christian Horner highlighted that the second-best team has changed almost every race. Aston Martin was initially the best of the rest behind Red Bull but was soon overtaken by Ferrari and Mercedes. With even McLaren making gains in recent rounds. Horner explained, “The order of the grill behind us does not stop changing every weekend… Every time we look under the shoulders, there is another team that is there, and that has helped us.”

FS Video

Discover: Five times Red Bull replaced a driver in the middle of an F1 season

Christian Horner insists on more Red Bull-inspired designs in 2024

Max Verstappen driving the Red Bull RB-19 at the Canadian GP (image via CTV News Montreal)
Max Verstappen driving the Red Bull RB-19 at the Canadian GP (image via CTV News Montreal)

The Red Bull RB-19 set the benchmark for the rest of the teams this season. The Milton Keynes-based team has become the inspiration for virtually the entire grid. Even Mercedes and Ferrari have abandoned their unique concepts in favor of designs that resemble the Red Bull. As such, Christian Horner believes that similar designs will increase in 2024.

The Red Bull team boss continued, “If you look at the McLaren suspensions or the beginnings of some other cars, you can see the influences that RB18 and RB19 have had in our rivals. One imagines that convergence will be even greater in 2024.” This would in turn, lead to closer racing as Red Bull will face stiff competition from rivals running similar design concepts.

Thus, Christian Horner was adamant that Formula 1 needs to stay away from making changes to the rules. The 49-year-old believed that with the rapid convergence on the grid, the pecking order would come even closer next season. Although, it remains to be seen if Red Bull does face a tough challenge from teams such as Mercedes and Ferrari in 2024.

In case you missed it: