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Red Bull boss Christian Horner has made it clear that it's not just Max Verstappen alone who wins the races, it's the entire team and the support system in place behind him. The Dutch driver shocked everyone in the F1 Japanese GP when he beat the McLaren duo to secure pole position.
The driver would then use the pole position advantage on Sunday to take the lead at the start and then manage the race in an immaculate manner to pick up his first win of the season. This came as a shock to everyone because Red Bull has not been in the same league as McLaren since the start of the season.
Even during the free practice sessions, Red Bull appeared to struggle in the hands of Max Verstappen compared to their rivals. Yet the team worked throughout the race weekend to put the car in the perfect window to secure pole position and the win.
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After the race, Red Bull boss Christian Horner said that it wasn't only Max Verstappen alone that won this race, it was the entire support system behind him that worked hard to put the car in the right window. Talking to Sky Sports, Horner termed Verstappen as the best driver in the world as he said,
“Max, without any debate, is the best driver in the world currently. But you’re a team. You’re not a driver and a car, you’re a team, and you win together and lose together. We’re working very hard. We know that this car has some vices. We know where we need to improve, and everybody is working very hard to achieve that."
Expanding on how the car was brought into the right working window, Horner said,
“We turned things upside down this weekend to get a car into a window that Max could make use of, and Suzuka is a drivers’ circuit. But you’ve also got to have a car to be able to deliver, and credit to the engineering team as well this weekend for giving him something that he could finally work with.”
Red Bull's priority is clinching the driver's championship with Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen is now only one point behind Lando Norris in the championship. If we compare that with where Red Bull is in the championship against McLaren, the point difference is significant. Talking about the championship situation, Horner was quite blunt in his assessment as he claimed that the team was entirely focused on the Drivers' championship as the constructors title would be a hard one to achieve. He said,
"For us, all priority is on that Drivers’ Championship. The Constructors’ for sure is going to be harder, but it’s a long year and you never give up. There’s no better tonic or motivator than winning, and we’ve done that here.”
It would be interesting to see what the next few races hold for Red Bull and Max Verstappen as the combination continues to extract the best possible result from the car they have at their disposal.
