Red Bull boss Christian Horner took a few shots at Mercedes boss Toto Wolff after the team’s dominant win at the Belgian GP on Sunday, where they finished 1-2.
The race at Spa was going to be pivotal for every team on the grid, as it was where the new technical directive from FIA came into effect. That directive was expected to help Mercedes and was publicly lobbied by their team boss Wolff.
As things turned out, though, that was not the case. Red Bull dominated the weekend at Spa from start to finish, and Horner even cheekily thanked Wolff for pushing the directive. Recapping the race, the Red Bull boss said:
“On the face of it, I’d probably have to thank Toto for the TD! In all seriousness, I think this circuit has played to our strengths. We have a very efficient car; we’ve found a very good set-up , and Max has just been in phenomenal form the very first lap in first practice. Obviously, strategically, we chose to take the penalty here, and 14th became 13th technically as the starting point with everybody else.
The Red Bull boss acknowledged the fact that it was still going to be tricky for eventual winner Max Verstappen to navigate his way through traffic, saying:
Of course, Max still had to navigate his way through the pack, and he did that very efficiently over the first couple of laps, so he hit the front far quicker than we could have ever expected, and the soft tire seemed to work for him as well in that stint. Thereafter, the pace we had with Max and Checo was enough that he got past Carlos to bring home one of the most dominant performances that we’ve had as a team since either 2010 or 2013.”
The 1-2 finish at Spa was Red Bull’s most dominant in an F1 race in almost a decade.
Red Bull have not changed approach to car setup
Horner said that even before the technical directive was effective, there weren’t too many changes to their car setup.
He also touched on the point that there were a lot of expectations that were put on the TD, which seemed to hurt other teams more than Red Bull. Horner said:
“A lot was made, and a lot of expectation was put on that TD. So perhaps it’s hurt others more than it’s hurt ourselves. We haven’t really changed the way we operate the car. Obviously, grounding here has always been an issue because of Eau Rouge, but that’s not unique to us; that’s the same for every team.”
With another 1-2 finish, Red Bull have cemented their place atop the championship summit as they look good for a double triumph (Drivers’ and Constructors’ championship) this season.
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