Red Bull were ready for risk as Horner asked if he’d erase Mercedes

Audi announces they are joining Formula 1

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Red Bull principal Christian Horner has admitted that he was happy for his team to endure a slow start to 2022 due to the major changes they made in the year before. Max Verstappen lifted his second consecutive driver’s championship last weekend in Japan, winning by 27.066s.

Red Bull have consistently impressed so far this season, with Verstappen reaping the benefits by cruising to victory in the overall rankings. The Dutchman lifted the trophy last year in controversial style, but the manner of his win this time around has proven that he is one of the best in the business – and is likely to be for many years to come.

Mercedes, on the other hand, will be hoping that they can finish off the season strongly and kick on next time around. Lewis Hamilton hasn’t been at his usual best, sitting in sixth place in the driver standings, with George Russell in fourth.

Expectations are high for Mercedes to bounce back next season and rival Red Bull for the trophy, like in 2021 – though Horner is welcoming the competition. Speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast, he was asked whether he would ‘erase’ Mercedes if he could, to which he replied: “No because it’s enjoyable racing against a team of their quality because they raise the stakes and they raise the bar.

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“And then we had to raise it higher to beat them. So the satisfaction that gives you is immense. And I think what we’re really proud of this year is that we’d put everything into last year, even at the expense of this year.

“Because again, another massive regulation change came in this year, the biggest in the last 40 years. We consoled ourselves by saying, ‘look, we’ll put more time into 2021. And if that costs us a slower start to 2022, we’ll take that if we can come away with a trophy.’

“We managed to come away with the trophy, but we also managed to start the season with a competitive car compared to all of the other teams. We were for sure the last team to swap over to the 2022 car, but such was the determination and the motivation within the business and the talent, the car that has been delivered for the drivers this year has been, again, phenomenal.”

Red Bull’s victory this year has been somewhat tarnished by it being revealed that they overspent last season and thus surpassed the budget cap. The FIA have confirmed they have found there to be a ‘minor breach’, though the punishment for that has not yet been revealed.

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