Jean Todt warns Red Bull of a potential overconfidence

The Austrian team is coming out of two years of domination, the last of which saw Red Bull win 21 out of 22 races in the championship. While its various competitors will arrive with cars becoming more and more similar, especially thanks to the creations of Adrian Newey, Jean Todt advises Christian Horner to learn from history.

The French leader was one of the key men behind Ferrari’s historic successes and Michael Schumacher’s between 2000 and 2004. However, everything changed in 2005 when a rule overhaul saw the Italian team lose to Renault and McLaren. “I see similarities between the two eras,” explained Jean Todt. “Red Bull has created a winning team with an extraordinary, highly professional, intelligent, and fantastic driver.”

« Don’t you remember 2005? The same team, the same drivers after a season full of victories. And even though we had Schumacher, we stopped being competitive. », he continued. « We were fast again the following year, but we ended up losing the title due to reliability issues. », recalled the former president of the FIA.

This period of Ferrari’s domination came to an end in 2005, and since then, only Kimi Räikkönen, in 2007, has allowed the Scuderia to win a driver’s title. Despite having world champions in its ranks such as Fernando Alonso or Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari has therefore not won any titles for 16 years, including the constructors’ title earned in 2008.

Red Bull still seems to be the favorite at the dawn of the 2024 season, with a technical regulation similar to the one implemented since 2022. The turning point for the Austrian team will come in 2026, and they should not rest on their laurels.