Max Verstappen recently earned the privilege to race with #1 for the 2022 F1 season after securing his first world championship title in 2021. And unlike Lewis Hamilton, the Dutch hero went on to acknowledge it as well and will be running with the unique number on his car.

Well, turns out, the arrival of #1 has influenced the mentality of the entire Red Bull squad, according to Christian Horner. The Briton opined that the Milton Keynes outfit now look extremely confident about the approaching season despite the potential threat from defending champions, Mercedes.

What did the Red Bull boss say?

Speaking to the media, Horner affirmed that Verstappen’s decision to run #1 has had a direct effect on the team’s mentality.

“I mean, sticking that number one on the car after all the pain that we went through last year, the fight that it was in 2021, and now the fight is to make sure we retain it on the car… it’s just energised everyone in the team,” he said, according to the official Formula 1 website.

“You can see a spring in everybody’s step and it gives people confidence as well, which is such an important thing in any sport – which is to not have arrogance, but confidence – and I think that runs through the organisation.”

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Been an encouraging start for Max Verstappen & co: Horner

Although it was Hamilton and his new teammate, George Russell, who topped the timesheets in Barcelona, Horner is happy with the way Red Bull functioned over the three-day pre-season testing at Barcelona.

“Yes, so far it’s great to be back on track – these new cars are very, very different, so it’s sort of a ‘get to know you’ process with this new car, the RB18, and so far, the feedback’s been good. It’s behaving as we expected and as our tools predicted. So, it’s been an encouraging start,” he concluded.

Overall, Red Bull are seemingly on par with Mercedes in terms of pace and we could have a clearer view of the teams’ stance in Bahrain in the coming weeks. So, will the Mercedes-Red Bull rivalry rekindle this year? Or will Ferrari and McLaren emerge as the new competitors for the title, kick-starting a four-way battle for the championship?

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