Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing boss, says his team “never stopped believing” in itself. He expressed his excitement as RB fetched its first Formula 1 constructors’ championship title of the hybrid era.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull driver, secured his second world championship title at Suzuka. However, the Milton Keynes team finally secured its constructor title at Austin. It marked an end to Mercedes’ hybrid era domination at both fronts.
Dietrich Mateschitz, Red Bull owner, passed away a day earlier to this big success of the team. Red Bull drivers, current and past, joined in to pay their respects for Mateschitz on the grid.
Horner pays trubute to Mateschitz
“It’s been a hugely emotional weekend,” said Horner
“When we learned the news yesterday of Dietrich’s passing it was very emotional for the whole team. Because he was such a giant of a man. And he’s done so much, not just for Red Bull Racing, but for F1.
“We felt determined to go out and really honour him in a way that would make him proud.
“So there were no black armbands. There was no minute’s silence. There was the embodiment of celebrating him. And the best way to do that, obviously, was the performance on circuit.
“So after eight long years, we’ve never stopped believing. We’ve never stopped picking ourselves up, brushing ourselves down. And never lost sight of what our goals and objectives are, which were to get back onto the top of both world championships.
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“We’ve done that. And that is testimony to the hard work of all of our staff, the contribution of all of our partners, our suppliers.
“And just the spirit that he embodied, that runs throughout all of Red Bull. It has enabled us to achieve what many people would have thought would be impossible.”
Red Bull’s team unity
Horner appreciated the Red Bull team unity. It allowed the team to perfrom “an incredible job this year in very difficult circumstance”.
“I think that the way the team has worked to get together collectively as a group,” he said.
“The way that they’ve supported each other operationally, development-wise, trackside throughout the entire business. And you need every single department doing and playing its role to win a constructors’ world championship. And that’s exactly what we’ve had.
“I think that we came very late on to this car. It was heavy at the start of the year. We managed to get a little bit of weight out of it. And with that, we managed to achieve a balance that helps.
“And I think the team has done an incredible job this year, in very difficult circumstances.”
