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With Lewis Hamilton Pushing To Handicap Red Bull, Christian Horner Launches “Personal” Attack on Arch Rival With Fiery Warning

Published 07/04/2023, 6:21 AM EDT

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Do you remember when Red Bull went on a winning streak that lasted until 2013? At that time, sports saw a radical transformation brought on by the turbo hybrid era, and Mercedes emerged as its most dominant squad. However, it appears that the competition has intensified now that the Red Bulls have reclaimed control over the Silver Arrows. Where Lewis Hamilton had previously proposed to limit a “rule” to a set duration, in response to that the Red Bull team boss, Christian Horner has now launched a “personal attack” on archrival with a stern warning.

Red Bull is currently performing at the highest level in their history thanks to a winning streak over the last 15 months. With his most recent victory, Max Verstappen now has seven victories from nine races, as teammate Sergio Perez took the other two. After seeing such dominance, their competitors have their hands on them for sure. Amidst that Mercedes has proposed a solution to stop such hegemony in the sport.

via Imago

Lewis Hamilton has proposed that the FIA should impose a limit on when a team can start working on their cars for the upcoming season as a means of preventing teams from cementing dominance over successive sessions. According to him, this can limit the advantage gained by the championship leader. Hamilton suggested a certain date, for example, to begin the process of development for teams who already have a solid position. Now as the seven times champion pushed to handicap Red Bull, the team boss Christian Horner has hit out a “personal” attack on Mercedes and Hamilton.

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As per Motorsport-Total, Horner said, “He’s obviously speaking from personal experience. I think it would be incredibly hard to control. How on earth could you say, ‘All right, August 1st, let’s go!’ How can you prevent people from thinking about or working on next year’s cars?

Later while elaborating it a bit more Horner outlines, “We have a handicap system in Formula 1 by reducing the time spent in the wind tunnel. Franz (Tost, AlphaTauri Team Principal) has almost twice as much time as we do. That’s a significant handicap.” [Translated via Google]

Before Horner attacked Lewis Hamilton and company, Max Verstappen was the first to voice his opinions on the contentious subject. So what did the two-time champion say?

 Max Verstappen slaps Lewis Hamilton with a Brutal reality check

For eight straight seasons, Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton have dominated the F1 circuits. And now that Red Bull has won 19 out of the last 20 races and all the races this season, Hamilton has questioned the prolonged dominance. Like Christian Horner, the double champion was quick to show the mirror to the 7-time champion.

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USA Today via Reuters

Verstappen initially dismissed the 38-year-old’s remarks when questioned about it during the formal FIA press conference, saying, “ Life is unfair as well. It’s not only F1. A lot of things in life are unfair so we just have to deal with it.”

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Later while hitting hit back at Hamilton, the Dutchman said, “We didn’t talk about that when he was winning everything”.

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Do you believe the FIA will notice Red Bull’s ongoing dominance and make a few minor modifications to the regulations?

WATCH THIS STORY | Lewis Hamilton’s Frustrating Radio Call Questioning Mercedes After a Disappointing Miami GP Qualifying

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Written by:

Aditya Srivastava

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Aditya Srivastava is an F1 writer at EssentiallySports with over two years of writing experience. He developed a keen interest in the sport after the unforgettable Abu Dhabi 2021 race. As a graduate of a premier institute, Aditya is committed to producing high-quality content that is engaging, informative, and accurate.
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Edited by:

Aishwary Gaonkar