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“It Was Completely Against the Odds”: Horner Snubs Max Verstappen’s 2021 Finale Glory, Honoring THIS F1 Driver With Greatest Red Bull Victory

Published 06/25/2022, 5:50 AM EDT

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Red Bull Boss Christian Horner recently revealed his ‘best win of all time’. While many thought it’d be Max Verstappen and the Abu Dhabi dramatic end moment moves, Horner actually chose something else. The Red Bull boss instead reveals the driver he feels had the best victory for the team.

Remember Vettel’s first world championship victory in 2010? The season was easily one of the most dramatic ones to have happened in the history of F1. While everyone expected Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso to take another victory; the Spaniard lost out on the title by 4 points. Ultimately, that season changed everything as the Vettel dominance began.

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Besides Verstappen, Horner had also famously mentored Vettel to be a four-time champion. Understandably, that first Seb title is special to Horner, who revealed, “Best win? Probably because it was completely against the odds was Sebastian winning the last race in Abu Dhabi. Because he hadn’t led the championship at all that year in 2010,”

“And Fernando Alonso was the favorite to win that championship, that race. And literally against the odds, um, Sebastian won, and where Fernando finished and Mark finished behind him was enough for him to become the world champion. So it was completely against the odds.”

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Ferrari‘s wrong calls were also very vital during this race, as Alonso had to settle for P7. Back then, Vitaly Petrov notoriously held back Alonso for almost 40 laps, costing him the much-needed top 4 spot.

Red Bull’s 2010 Vettel win vs Max Verstappen 2021 win

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There are some key differences between Verstappen and Vettel’s Abu Dhabi win. Seb’s win was completely unimagined as Ferrari made the wrong calls for Alonso. Max, on the other hand, did have a realistic chance but also lost out on the race at one point.

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Alonso, stuck behind Petrov, had several cars in his way to reach the top 4. Vettel managed to somehow lead the race in those moments and also win it. Whereas Sergio Perez in 2021, helped Verstappen as he held back Lewis Hamilton, allowing him to catch up. Notably, Hamilton was a title contender in both these years under different circumstances.

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However, in both these cases, Abu Dhabi changed the game for Red Bull as their drivers won. So, what is your pick? 2010 or 2021?

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Written by:

Khyati Yadav

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Khyati Yadav is an F1 writer at EssentiallySports. She is a Hospitality Graduate and a huge fan of Lando Norris. She believes that F1 as a sport deserves a lot more attention and is intrigued by the process that goes behind the making of a car and the hard work that goes into the setting up of any Grand Prix.
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Edited by:

Ranvijay Singh