Horner still sees Verstappen fighting for the title this season
Despite a difficult start to the season for Max Verstappen, Red Bull's boss Christian Horner believes that his driver is still in the fight to retain his crown.
Max Verstappen’s start to the season is not going as planned. With one victory and two retirements in three races, the Dutch driver already trails championship leader Charles Leclerc by 46 points. Two separate reliability issues have slowed down the 2021 world champion’s Red Bull, while his Monégasque rival’s Ferrari seems to be running like clockwork.
The expectations were high around Verstappen at the beginning of the year. After a season of intense battle with Lewis Hamilton, where the championship was decided on the last lap of the last Grand Prix of the year, the Dutchman emerged as one of the favorites for 2022. From the winter tests, it seemed evident that the Red Bull was a fast and well-developed car. However, during the first race weekend in Bahrain, issues with the Red Bull PowerTrains (the new name for the Honda engine) arose on Verstappen’s and Pérez’s cars, as well as on those of the sister team AlphaTauri.
Christian Horner, the Team Principal of the Austrian team, however, wants to stay positive and still aims to compete for the titles this season. In an interview with GQ magazine, the British leader praised the fighting spirit of the reigning world champion: “Max is not diminished at all. He is gaining more and more experience, and his desire and hunger are the same as when he first stepped into the car.”
