We at Paddock Magazine had the opportunity to sit down and have a chat with Oracle Red Bull Racing’s team principal, Christian Horner. Christian is still one of the youngest team principals of the Formula 1 paddock, albeit he’s already in his 18th F1 season. Thanks to the dominant form of Red Bull Racing, the Austrian team continues to lead the constructor’s championship.
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What’s the biggest strength of Red Bull that can help you win the championship this year?
I think it’s the people, the attitude, the culture, the spirit… It’s a people sport, and it’s a people team. Obviously, we’ve had a good start to the season, but we have to keep that momentum running. Racing against such a big brand as Ferrari is unique. It’s great for Formula 1 that we’re competing against Ferrari at such a high level. To be honest, it’s refreshing to race against another competitor, but Mercedes will be back – no doubt.
What can you do to follow the cost cap related rules, which seem to be not a straightforward task because of the global inflation?
I think we have to drive efficiency. Many of the teams are struggling with inflation that continues to increase. Obviously, there are elements which we can’t control – like raw material, freight or just the general cost of living. We see a tremendous increase in that area and it’s difficult for us to counter. I think it’s still not late to rethink the cost cap regulations. These elements are beyond our control and it’s clearly an FIA issue. We had to do several changes, we’ve had redundancies, which were obviously very painful for many people who were part of the team for many years. It would be incorrect to make more people redundant just because of the inflation. [In the meantime, FIA has announced that the cost cap of $140 million has been raised by 3.1%.]
It’s refreshing to race against another competitor
Christian Horner
Formula 1 has undergone huge regulation changes for this year. How could you evaluate them?
This year has got off to a great start with cars that can follow more closely. The initiatives like Drive to Survive had an enormous effect on bringing new followers to the sport. On the other hand, I think there are some changes that we need to wind-back. The working time is something that we need to look at. Coming to Monaco with a new…
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