Niki Lauda said it was 70% Max Verstappen‘s fault when the 2018 Red Bull pairing of Max and Daniel Ricciardo crashed into each other, telling the world that all might not be okay. Moreover, the team who treated the duo like kids who needed to be taught about values gave them a unique punishment of a factory visit to apologize for the incident. That being in the past, development around the same venue has left Christian Horner sweating and wary.

The first sprint race of the 2023 season is set to be held at the interesting street circuit of Baku. While Azerbaijan never disappoints, a sprint on that circuit seems “absolutely ludicrous” to Red Bull TP Christian Horner. The Briton agrees that from the audience and entertainment perspective, it will be a spectacle and will be one of the most exciting bits of the busy 2023 calendar. However, the literal cost may be high for the teams. And we wouldn’t doubt the man who faced almost a million-dollar disaster in Azerbaijan and the penalties of the cost cap breach.

As quoted by Autosport, Horner said, “From a cost cap perspective, all you can do is trash your car. And it costs a lot of money around there. So one race is enough in Baku, the fact that we’ve got two, there could be well some action there. But that’s part of the challenge and it’s part of the task that we’ve got. Hopefully, we can tidy up the format for the sprint races coming up, that they are bit more that they are a bit more dynamic.”

He further added, “I know that the sporting directors have been working hard on that and hopefully we can get that finalised. A sprint race in Azerbaijan is something to be certainly wary of.”

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However, if you are wondering what happened five years ago, which still gives nightmares to Horner, then we should look back at that dreaded Sunday morning in 2018.

What happened in Baku? An incident that changed La La Land for Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

Everything seemed to b heading in the right direction at Red Bull until it wasn’t. An incident that played a crucial role in Dany Ric’s exit from the team changed the course of the team for the next few years. A collision on lap 40 during the Azerbaijan GP in Baku saw both drivers bow out. Ricciardo and Verstappen, who were competing for P4, crashed into each other when the former tried to make an overtake.

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Verstappen shut the doors on the Australian’s overtake attempt down the inside. And to add to the intense situation as Max made another defensive move under braking after Dany had sold him a dummy to try to squeeze around the outside. The disaster saw Horner storm out of the track. Which is probably why it still haunts him.

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Do you think the sprint race in Baku will see other teammates fighting it out? Can it be the new Red Bull boys?