Sacrificed the 2022 F1 Season in Order to Beat Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton Last Year: Christian Horner Makes Stunning Red Bull Revelation

The rivalry between Red Bull and Mercedes has been the talking point for the last few years. From 2010 to 2022, the teams have clashed plenty of times. As the Austrian team got the better of their German counterparts in 2022, the team principal makes a shocking revelation.

Christian Horner, the Red Bull Racing team boss, shared that he was happy with the slow start that the Milton-Keynes-based team endured at the start of the 2022 season. Citing this issue, Horner further stated that they wanted to give everything in 2021 and help Max Verstappen pick up his first-ever championship, even if this means a rather tough start to business in the next season.

Talking about this, the Briton shared at The Diary of a CEO podcast, “I think what we’re really proud of this year is that we’d put everything into last year, even at the expense of this year.”

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Red Bull helped Max Verstappen pick up his maiden F1 world title after a tight finish in the very last race of 2021 in Abu Dhabi. Even though it is deemed controversial, that doesn’t take away the fact that Red Bull had their first taste of the driver’s championship after eight years after Sebastian Vettel picked his fourth in 2013.

Christian Horner enjoys Mercedes’s rivalry

Even though Ferrari was at times poised to be a major threat to Red Bull and Mercedes, the Austrian team maintained its arch-rivalry with the German team. While the 2010 to 2013 season went to the Milton-Keynes-based team, and 2014 to 2020 went to the Brackley-based team, the 2021 F1 season saw the ultimate clash of the titans.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen picked up the driver’s championship by defeating Lewis Hamilton on the very last lap of the very last race. Whereas Mercedes defeated the Bulls in the constructors’ championship by 28 points.

Horner, who enjoys battling Toto Wolff’s team, has further revealed that he would not cancel them out even if he had a chance. Talking about this and the Mercedes rivalry, the 48-year-old shared, “It’s enjoyable racing against a team of their quality because they raise the stakes and they raise the bar.”

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“And then we had to raise it higher to beat them. So the satisfaction that gives you is immense,” further asserted the Austrian team’s supremo. As the season is almost over with Red Bull having a thumping win over Mercedes, it’ll be interesting to see if the Silver Arrows can turn the tables around in 2023.