“We need to make hay while the sun shines,” Red Bull not resting on their laurels over F1 grid ‘convergence’ concerns
Christian Horner aims on capitalizing on Red Bull's pace advantage before rivals catch up in the latter half of the season.
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Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen racing against each other
Red Bull Racing has dominated the first two rounds of the 2023 F1 season. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have both won a race so far this season. The rest of the grid has failed to answer the RB-19. Arch-rival, Mercedes is already rumored to shift its development concept in line with the Austrian team. Team boss Christian Horner is prepared to face such a threat this season.
The 49-year-old was asked about a potential challenge from the Silver Arrows. Christian Horner gave a relaxed answer about Toto Wolff’s team. The Briton said, “The regulations are still relatively young. It’s only the second year of these new regulations.” Subsequently, Horner is aware of the possibility of the grid following one design concept. He explained, “So I’m expecting to see an awful lot of convergence during the course of the year, and the grid is going to tighten up.”
Horner acknowledged his team’s need to gain a reasonable points gap before other teams close up in performance. The 49-year-old expressed, “So we need to make hay while the sun shines at the moment while we’ve got a competitive car, and just keep pushing through the season.” The Briton had faith in the field closing up soon. Christian said, “I have no doubt that the opposition will be coming back quickly and aggressively.”
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“Healthy respect between the two,” Christian Horner on Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez
On the topic of tensions between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, Christian Horner understood the importance of the title. He elaborated, “The Drivers’ [F1 championhip] is the individual championship. That’s the one that carries the prestige. Especially for the drivers.” The 49-year-old clarified that Red Bull would provide an equal footing to both his drivers. Horner said, “I think for us as a team, the responsibility is to give both drivers the same chance, the same opportunity, the same car.”
The Briton mentioned that it depends on the drivers to capitalize on the given machinery to get the results. Christian Horner stated, “Of course, it’s then down to what they do on the circuit. We’ve got two great drivers, Max and Sergio. There’s a healthy respect between the two of them and I expect that to continue.” Previously, rumors had floated over Red Bull instructing Sergio Perez to lap slower than his teammate in Jeddah.
Thus, Christian Horner is adamant that Red Bull will try and gain as much ground as possible before it faces stiff competition from the grid. The 49-year-old believes the team garage will not face a major rivalry between drivers. The two work in tandem in helping the team ease its way to the F1 Constructors’ World Championship in 2023.
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Armaan Agarwal
(2310 Articles Published)