Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has hailed his workforce for dealing "phenomenally well" with the sport's recent change in technical regulations. With Red Bull and Mercedes going head-to-head for last year's world titles, the two teams had to balance 2021 development and the 2022 ground effect overhaul. While Red Bull and Ferrari have emerged with the two fastest cars this season, Mercedes fell back to third in the pecking order, significantly off the pace. And, after overcoming some early reliability concerns, Red Bull have pulled comfortably clear of Ferrari in both the Drivers' and Constructors' standings. Max Verstappen holds an 80-point lead over Charles Leclerc with eight wins from 13 races, while Red Bull are almost 100 points clear of Ferrari.
Horner credits Red Bull for dealing with F1's major rule changes
Reflecting on the season so far in an exclusive interview with RacingNews365.com , Horner offered up plenty of superlatives over his team's performance. "It's been a remarkable first 13 races for us," he commented. "We came into the season off the back of last year, transitioning very late in the day compared to our opponents to this new set of regulations. "I think the team has responded phenomenally well and for us to be in a competitive position from the first test is testament to the hard work that's gone on behind the scenes. "Obviously, the early races, we had some frustrations with reliability in Bahrain and in Australia. But we bounced back at race two in Jeddah, winning that race, and have had some epic fights [with Ferrari]. "It seems to be working pretty well, these new regs, in terms of creating closer racing, and I think we've maximised our opportunities."
Horner offers his gratitude to all departments at Red Bull
Horner went on to express his satisfaction at the job being done across the board at Red Bull, both at the track and the factory. "There's no single element to it, it's a collective," said Horner. "I'm just delighted with the way the whole team is performing; the engineering staff, the technicians, the pit-stops have been strong and consistent – we got the fastest stop of the year [so far] in Hungary. "And of course, what's going on back in Milton Keynes – it's been been a phenomenal reaction." Horner was also pleased to see his team "sharp and ready" to capitalise on a fully competitive car in 2021 after some fallow years when the sport's turbo-hybrid power unit era began. "We've always had a very strong racing ethic and culture, with how we go racing and approach challenges," he added. "We've not always had the tools to win in every single Grand Prix. We had a missing component to achieve that [from] 2014 to 2018. But from really last year, the first time that we had the complete package, the team was sharp and ready to make use of that. "That's also translated into this year as well. I mean, fundamentally, we are very much still a race team."
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