The championship battle this season has been as intense off the track as it has been on it. With strong comments made from both sides of the war line, it has been extraordinarily tense. Even now, as the battle is at its last stage, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had some things to say about their opponents.

Max Verstappen is known for his aggressive driving style. Almost never backing down, the season has seen the two rivals come in contact many times. However, Horner believes it is necessary as Verstappen’s battle is with Mercedes as a whole. “I think when you look at some of the incidents, the spotlight shines on Max because of the way he drives. And because is up against a machine and not just the driver Lewis… he’s against the whole machine of Mercedes.”

Horner then takes a dig at Mercedes’ behavior with the media this season. “They have more people in marketing than mechanics in the garage. Sometimes he has felt that tough decisions have been made on him and other drivers have gotten away with it. I think Lewis would say the same, but for Max, it bit him hard.”

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With the media playing an influential role this time around, does Horner truly believe in what he says? In addition to Horner, Verstappen had made similar claims as well.

Is Red Bull being treated differently?

Max Verstappen took two penalties last time around in Saudi Arabia. Regarding this, the Dutchman believes he’s being treated differently compared to other drivers when it comes to racing incidents.

“Well, clearly, these don’t apply for everyone. That’s because the things I did in terms of defending, two other guys, in terms of racing, also did, and they didn’t even get a mention, or penalty.”

Although the race at Losail had a lot of controversies surrounding it, the steward’s decision was the biggest of them. For Verstappen, it wasn’t the Formula 1 he knew. The driver said,” thought I was just racing hard. What happened, for me, didn’t deserve any penalty. Really, the other two people who did it, they didn’t get one. “It’s only me who gets it and, of course, fighting up the front, people were more critical, I guess.”

Now, it may not trouble Verstappen or Red Bull as much. With a winner-takes-all situation ahead of them, Sunday couldn’t be more interesting. With a double championship up for grabs, can the Milton Keynes team clear their head of distractions for the final race?

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