Horner admits Red Bull success return felt ‘unachievable’

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has admitted that a return to front-running competition felt “unachievable” at times.

The Milton Keynes-based squad has enjoyed a highly dominant campaign this year, winning 21 of the 22 Grands Prix staged.

Max Verstappen cruised unchallenged to his third Drivers' Championship while Red Bull prevailed in the Constructors' standings for the sixth time.

Red Bull enjoyed a highly successful period from 2010 to 2013 when it won four consecutive titles with Sebastian Vettel.

However, it endured a dip in form when new technical regulations were introduced in 2014 and was reduced to winning a small handful of races per season at best and unable to challenge for titles.

Red Bull bounced back with a championship victory in 2021 before starting the following campaign under new rules in a dominant position.

Horner reveals pace fears

"I think the lesson in life and in this business is you have to celebrate every success," Horner told media including RacingNews365.

"Because you don't know when the next one is going to come. And I think we came into the sport, just under 20 years ago and were perceived as the party team, as not perhaps taking life as seriously as some of our counterparts.

"We built the team up and by 2009, we started winning. 2010, we then started winning championships, and that period was a golden period with Sebastian Vettel."

After slipping back in the order when the turbo-hybrid era began, Horner admits that he held doubts over ever returning to such a position again.

"But then a big regulation change and circumstances beyond our control deprived us of being able to be competitive," he said.

"That was a challenging period but what I was immensely proud of is that the whole team, the core team, really stuck together during that period.

"Once we got a Power Unit that brought us into a position to be able to compete again, we made real use of that and so, there were times during that seven-year drought that it felt unachievable, to get back to the winning days of 2010 to 2013.

"I think it just shows if you have a clear target, and you believe in the people around you and work collectively as a team, then anything is achievable."