Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner heaps praise on Honda’s work ethic

Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner heaps praise on Honda’s work ethic

Red Bull

The 2021 season of Formula 1, end of the hybrid cars era, had the dramatic and exciting season it deserved where Red Bull’s Max Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, ending their dominance by overtaking him in the season finisher in Abu Dhabi.

Red Bull haven’t had reasons to celebrate after Sebastian Vettel left them to join Ferrari after winning 4 world titles with them. They were playing catchup with Mercedes with a young Max Verstappen and multiple partners over the years driving a Renault engine powered car.

Red Bull switched to Honda power from 2019 after three years running turbo-hybrid system of Renault before the fallout with them. Much to Red Bull’s disappointments, Honda announced in 2020 it would be withdrawing from F1 at the end of the 2021 campaign, to shift its focus on a company-wide carbon emissions goal.

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The Japanese giant brought forward its 2022-designed power unit for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez for their 2021 title challenge against the Mercedes. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won his maiden drivers’ championship with it securing 10 grand prix titles.

Find out what Christian Horner said

Christian Horner
Christian Horner

Red Bull boss Christian Horner said he how much he appreciates Honda’s support, passion, commitment, and work ethic. He went congratulate Honda’s comeback to F1 and how they overcome the drawbacks they had with McLaren before joining Red Bull. He also stated that if not for the Silverstone incident they wouldn’t have had to take a 4th engine.

“Absolutely! The passion, the commitment, just their work ethic,”

“When they came back into the sport [with McLaren] they had a hard time, but they kept their heads down, they worked hard at it and from day one of this relationship, it’s been phenomenal,” said Christian Horner.

“You can see that through their culture, this work ethic they have,”

“The engine for this year was brought forward 12 months and were it not for the incident at Silverstone [the high-speed crash into a barrier], Max would have done the entire season on three engines,” Christian Horner added.

The Red Bull boss also said that it’s a great shame Honda is not continuing with F1 and is not present in assisting Red Bull over a transitional period ,managing the new system. The Red Bull boss also said he is proud of what Red Bull has achieved together with Honda. He also mentioned about the fact that its the first driver’s world championship for Honda in 30 years following Ayrton Senna’s win in 1991 Season. He also expressed his optimism that he now looks forward to a future without Honda officially present but maintaining a relationship with them over the next few years.

“a great shame” Honda has now left F1, bar from assisting Red Bull over a transitional period in managing the system, Horner added: “The first drivers’ world championship in 30 years since Ayrton Senna in 1991 is an enormous moment for them,” Christian Horner said.

“We’re tremendously proud of what we’ve achieved with Honda, for what they’ve provided and given us, and we now look forward to a future without Honda officially but maintaining a relationship with them over the next few years.” Christian Horner added.

Also read: Pierre Gasly sets a ‘new record’ after a mega F1 season in 2021.