Max Verstappen is confident that Red Bull will find ways and be extra motivated to do well after the cuts as penalty of F1 cost cap breach.
Having had a competitive 2021 F1 season, Red Bull managed to maintain its supremacy in 2022 under new regulations as they broke the constructors’ championship brigade of Mercedes to become only the second team to do so in the V6 Hybrid era.
Verstappen made a double with back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022. But it didn’t come without a controversy as Red Bull were found to have breached the cost cap. Not only they were fined financially, but a larger punishment saw their share of windtunnel time cut.
Having won the title, Red Bull already were to get less windtunnel time than their immediate rivals Ferrari and Mercedes. But this 10% cut further reduces their time. While there have been debates on how much they are to lose, Verstappen is anyhow confident.
He reckons Red Bull has extra motivation to do well with the handicap and with a competitive car, they should be able to challenge well. “I mean, it will affect us, but how much? I don’t know yet,” said Verstappen. “I’m confident that the team, and the people we have, can use that as extra motivation to try and do even better.
“I know, of course, they always give their best. But we have a very competitive car, we have a lot of great ideas, I think, already for 2023 as well with the car, and hopefully it’s going to be enough,” summed up Verstappen, who will want to win his third title, together with Red Bull and Honda.
Even though the Japanese manufacturer officially left F1, they still have a tie-up with Red Bull Powertrains to aide them with things and the branding will increase again. Horner is certainly pleased with how things worked between them and expects more.
“We entered 2022 with Honda with a one year engineering contract for a one year supply of Technical support and they have supported us so brilliantly well,” said Horner. “Their product is very strong. We extended that agreement because we were obviously due to start assembling the engines ourselves.
“But we have extended that agreement with HRC which sees the Honda badge go back on the car as of Japan last year. We look forward to working with them over the next three seasons, it’s a great engineering partner to have and they have played a key role in the success in 2022,” summed up Horner.
Here’s Christian Horner on communication being key for drivers
Here’s Paul Monaghan on Max Verstappen being technically gifted
Here’s Paul Monaghan on 2022 being satisfying
Here’s Christian Horner on Red Bull becoming unpopular
Here’s Adrian Newey on impact of less windtunnel time
Here’s Christian Horner picking Max Verstappen’s best of 2022