World champion Max Verstappen hit “phenomenal new heights” during a record-breaking season, says Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.
The pair will receive their Formula 1 world championship trophies this evening in Baku, Azerbaijan as part of the FIA’s annual prize giving gala.
Verstappen won his third-consecutive world title in 2023 with a record-breaking 19 victories from 23 rounds, while Red Bull successfully defended their constructors’ championship from last season. Red Bull also set new records for the most victories by a team in a single season, as well as breaking McLaren’s 1988 record for most consecutive grand prix wins.
Hailing his historic season, Verstappen said it was never the goal for him to set new all-time records in the sport.
“We’ve won a lot as a team,” Verstappen said. “But it’s also just been really enjoyable to work with everyone inside the team.
“Of course, once you are winning a few in a row, you want to keep that momentum going. The pressure is always on, you always want to do well. But I was never thinking about trying to break all these kind of records, I was just trying to do the best I could every single race weekend and enjoy it as well at the same time. Because you know that these kind of great moments, they don’t come along that often. So it was, of course, a very, very good year.”
Horner said his team’s achievements throughout 2023 demonstrated that Red Bull’s strengths were more than just having an historically great car in their RB19.
“It’s been a remarkable season for us,” Horner said. “None of us could have ever imagined this kind of season that we’ve just completed.
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“To win 21 out of the 22 races, five out of the six sprint races, defend both titles and break many records along the way – some that have stood since 1988.
“I think it epitomises that every aspect of the team has just been operating at a phenomenal level and it’s not just the design of the car and the operation of the car. It’s the production, it’s the support functions – it’s every single department. Across all the different challenges, the different types of circuits, conditions that we’ve had over the course of the year. Reliability – our partner Honda, giving us a great product for the year as well.
“So it’s a combination of all those aspects that have come together that has just been the most gratifying team performance that I doubt…
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