Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says “not one once of me” would want to face a sterner challenge for this season’s Formula 1 world championship.
Red Bull has made an unbeaten start to 2023 by winning all of the opening 12 races before the summer break, breaking McLaren’s record for most consecutive victories along the way.
The team’s dominance has shown no sign of abating, with a 32-second winning margin over its nearest rivals at the Belgian Grand Prix.
This has made the prospect of Red Bull becoming the first team in F1 history to win every race over an entire season an increasing possibility.
While there is general wish for Red Bull to be challenged on a regular basis, Horner has no desire for more competition, admitting he is relishing his team’s dominant run of form.
“There’s not one ounce of me that wishes that. I think I’m still in recovery from 2021,” Horner said when asked if he was hoping Red Bull would be challenged more often, as quoted by Motorsport.com.
“And look, results like [Spa] are the combination of teamwork and that’s why you guys have seen Greg [Reeson], our garage technician that looks after all the tyres in the garage, to go and get the constructors’ trophy today.
“Because it’s about every member of the team, every department in the factory doing their job, you don’t achieve these kinds of results by accident.
“I think that it’s a golden moment for our team. Hats off to everybody behind the scenes, everybody that’s working as hard as they are to achieve this kind of performance.”
Horner added: “It’s phenomenal to go into the summer break unbeaten in both GPs and sprints. It’s beyond everybody’s wildest imagination to be in sitting in this position now.”
Red Bull is well on course to wrap up a second successive championship double as it sits more than 250 points ahead of Mercedes, while Max Verstappen holds a 125-point lead in the drivers’ standings.
Horner is refusing to ponder if Red Bull can achieve a clean sweep and stay unbeaten in the second half of the season, but motorsport advisor Helmut Marko believes this is now a real possibility.
“If you think logically, then no. But we never thought that we could win the first 12 races either, so now I have to say: why not?” he said.
“I didn’t expect [Red Bull’s dominance] at all. We’ve just developed our own car and we were honestly surprised that the others didn’t do a good job because both Mercedes and Ferrari didn’t make a step forward. That is why we are so far ahead now.
“The opposition behind us keeps changing. One time it’s Ferrari, one time it’s McLaren and then it’s Aston Martin or Mercedes who is behind us.”
