Christian Horner anticipates an “extremely tight” battle in 2025
Red Bull boss Christian Horner admitted that consistency will be crucial as his team looks to bounce back after losing the constructors' championship.
Although Max Verstappen successfully defended his world drivers’ championship title for the fourth consecutive year, Red Bull was beaten by McLaren in the team championship. Ferrari also finished ahead of them in second place.
After McLaren’s victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which concluded the season, Christian Horner acknowledged that the Woking team deserved their triumph.
Congratulations to McLaren, to all the men and women of this team, said Horner. We know how difficult it is to win a World Constructors’ Championship and all the devotion and effort required to achieve it. So, to Zak [Brown], Andrea [Stella] and their shareholders, but above all to the men and women of McLaren, well done.
Translate: « They have been exceptional this year. They had two drivers who performed extremely well and were deserving winners in the end. I’m sure we raised heart rates and blood pressure at the beginning of the race with the incident involving Oscar [when Verstappen collided with the Australian], but, yes, they deserved this constructors’ championship this year, despite the fact that we won more races and sprints. »
« Obviously, collectively, we didn’t score enough points to defend this title, so well played to them. »
After dominating the start of the season in the constructors’ standings, Red Bull gradually fell back as the campaign progressed, notably due to the challenges faced by Sergio Perez and increased competition from their rivals.
Horner sets his goals for 2025
Asked about the scale of the challenge for the team in 2025, Horner expressed his expectation of incredibly tight margins among the top four teams on the grid: Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes.
« If you look at the points from the summer break until before this race… Charles [Leclerc] was slightly ahead in terms of individual points scored, so you can see that it’s going to be extremely tight next year, » commented the team director.
« You have at least four teams that will be in contention, during the last year of these regulations, to win Grand Prix, so I think the big winner will be Formula 1 next year. I think the margins will be minimal everywhere, and of course, starting the season well will be imperative, but we can see that, over such a long season, consistency will be key. »
Despite their relative difficulties in 2024 compared to their domination in 2023, Horner believes that Red Bull has many reasons to be proud when reflecting on the past year.
« It has certainly been a busy year, on and off the track, but I think the most important thing to remember this year is how the team stayed together, worked as a team, » he explained. « And although Abu Dhabi didn’t go in our favor, a week ago, we won a big race in Qatar, and the nine victories we achieved this season [with] everything I just mentioned. »
« If we don’t compare it to 2023 [when Red Bull won 21 out of 22 races], it’s still an incredible year. So, to all the men and women of Milton Keynes who worked crazy hours, they can be very proud of what they’ve accomplished this year. »
