Horner finds ally in fellow F1 team boss as Verstappen dominates

Horner opens up on Red Bull's 'barren spell' amid Mercedes dominance

Christian Horner has found an ally in Haas boss Guenther Steiner who claims Red Bull should not be punished for their early season dominance. Red Bull have picked up three wins from the first trio of races with Max Verstappen cruising to two victories.

However, there are fears the team’s dominance could be bad for the sport which is in the process of growing its popularity to new audiences.

Ted Kravitz has previously suggested the FIA changed the previous regulations in a bid to stop Mercedes’ dominance after the Silver Arrows won eight back-to-back Constructors’ Championships. However, Steiner believes the FIA should not tamper with any regulations with an aim of reducing Red Bull’s advantage.

Talking to Autosport, Steiner said: “I mean it’s a voting system, you cannot make moves just because somebody is faster than somebody else, that’s not fair. If they find that something is not legal, they can adjust the rules. Safety is always a concern. But I think we need to find out in a few races what is going on really. I think we shouldn’t jump to a conclusion yet.”

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It comes after Horner predicted a “game-changing” rules update will come to fruition in a bid to ruin Verstappen’s conquest for a third consecutive Drivers’ Championship.

He remarked: “There is always something, always a technical directive that drops, a game changer. You can guarantee that the others will be scheming, ‘How can we slow them down?’ It’s part of the game. Having lived through it before you become more seasoned in how to ride it out.”

However, Steiner has failed to accept Red Bull will cruise to the crown in 2023 despite their significant advantage. He points to the team’s wind tunnel penalty for breaching budget cap rules as potentially significant come the middle of the campaign.

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Meanwhile, Mercedes and Ferrari are yet to fire on all cylinders after a difficult beginning to 2023. Steiner added: “Obviously at the moment Red Bull has an advantage, but I wouldn’t say they’ll keep that advantage now for the next 20 races.

“I’m not so sure about that because everybody will catch up, and hopefully we find out how Red Bull came to this advantage and we can copy it, or do something similar.

“Everybody will be working hard. Then you never have to forget Red Bull has got the penalty from last year, they can do less development in the wind tunnel this year, so they cannot move a lot ahead anymore in theory.”

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