"He'd shove his finger in your face": Christian Horner on when Sebastian Vettel was hated by fans

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner spoke about how Sebastian Vettel's popularity changed amongst the fans through the years he raced for them and later for others.

On the Talking Bull podcast, Christian Horner was asked about Sebastian Vettel and how his personality amongst fans changed in his career. Back with Red Bull, the German was known for his fierce driving, and once he started dominating, there were incidents that questioned him as a person.

However, by the time he retired the previous season, it seemed as if the entire fan following was solely for him and that he had no haters whatsoever. Horner explained this and also a somewhat notorious habit that he had:

"I think everything evolves in time, when Sebastian used to win he'd get out of the car and would shove his finger in your face, he had this really annoying habit of showing this one finger."

"And, I think, whenever you have serial winners in any sport, I think it's easy to lose that popularity and Sebastian was a very private person, he didn't give anything himself personally, in terms of, emotionally, and he never let people see who he really was."

Horner mentioned that later in his career, his personality was more exposed to fans and they had been fans of it by then, which explains why Sebastian Vettel had everyone connected to him emotionally.

"As he got older, he got more comfortable with expressing himself and people seeing his character and his values., they began to love that and he became hugely popular by the end of his career."

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Horner feels that Max Verstappen is quite different to Sebastian Vettel

Like Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen is currently dominating the grid with Red Bull. The Dutchman has won two consecutive world championships and looks pretty much in the chase for his third one with a ferocious start to the 2023 season.

Horner talked about the difference between the two drivers, as he mentioned, Verstappen is more expressive of his emotions, instead of hiding them from others in contrast to how Vettel was in his early years. He said:

"I think Max is a very very different character. He wears his heart on his sleeve. You just know, I mean, he's got a lion on the top of his helmet for a reason. He drives like a lion and he's got a lion in his heart. He's immensely talented and you just know he;'s gonna give a 110%."

"It's great to see where we go around the sport, how much support he has and how much Checo has. But, of course, in different countries, there are different allegiances to drivers."

Horner is quite confident about the performance of both of his drivers this season. 2023 has been the best season start for Red Bull after winning the opening three races and achieving a 1 - 2 finish, twice.

The team is quite dominant with Verstappen and Sergio Perez's pace, making it impossible for others to challenge them.