Home F1 Horner says winning consistently is quick way to become unpopular

Christian Horner, F1 — SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - OCTOBER 01: Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner looks on from the pitwall during final practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 01, 2022 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images,) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202210010235 // Usage for editorial use only //

Horner says winning consistently is quick way to become unpopular

08/01/2023

Christian Horner notes that winning consistently in F1 does make one unpopular quickly as he speaks on learning despite dominance.

Despite its success with Red Bull Honda managing to stop the Mercedes juggernaut in the hybrid era for the first time since its inception, the F1 team has faced criticism for all the controversies since the 2021 season and following in 2022 as well.

Whatever that happened in 2021 and the budget cap situation in 2022, Red Bull has been on receiving end even though they have had the car to win. And Horner reckons if someone wins consistently in this sport especially against historic brands, they are to be unpopular.

“You are always learning, someone else will have an issue with something and the higher you rise the sharper the knives and we have experienced that this year and the quickest way to become unpopular in this sport is to win consistently and we are a subsidiary of an energy drink racing against historic brands and of course that does not sit comfortably with some of our competitors,” said Horner to media.

Elaborating more on the learning aspect, Horner notes that they can never be complacent in this business. He adds that Red Bull is a team of hard racers and they approach by pushing boundaries which has helped them attain success in F1.

“Personally, you are learning every race that you learn in this business never to expect a quiet life especially when running at the front,” said Horner. “I think that you should never be complacent about winning, enjoy, every result, enjoy every victory, enjoy every moment because they are so hard earned that they mean so much.

“They should never be underestimated, whether it be with budget caps or drivers, there are always things to learn. I think off track we have had firmly a target on our back this year. We are a race team, a non political organisation, we just focus on going racing.

“We are hard racers, we push the boundaries which is what race teams do if they want to succeed. That has always been our approach and it has worked well for us, it’s the way we enjoy competing. At times it has felt tough this year, that’s unfortunately F1,” summed up Horner.

Here’s how the F1 2022 teams were categorised in ranking: https://formularapida.net/f1-2022-teams-categorised-in-tier-system-for-their-performances/

Here’s how the F1 2022 drivers were categorised in ranking: https://formularapida.net/f1-2022-drivers-categorised-in-tier-system-for-their-performances/

Here’s drivers’ list of Top 10 drivers

Here’s the team bosses list of Top 10 drivers

Here’s Adrian Newey on impact of less windtunnel time

Here’s Christian Horner picking Max Verstappen’s best of 2022

Here’s Max Verstappen on being pushed despite dominance

Here’s Christian Horner on hiring Adrian Newey

Here’s Red Bull trio and Sebastian Vettel on multiple topics

Here’s Adrian Newey about RB18