Red Bull's Christian Horner cites former McLaren boss as the team welcomes the challenge from rivals

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has welcomed the challenge from rivals and claimed this is how F1 should be as the team faces stiff competition. The 2024 F1 season started in a fashion similar to 2023. The first two races had seen Max Verstappen take pole position and streak away to a comfortable win.

Things did, however, start to change at the F1 Miami GP, where McLaren brought its first major upgrade of the season. The upgrade worked like a charm, and the Woking-based squad was right at the front alongside Red Bull. Lando Norris would benefit from the late race safety car and beat Verstappen on track that weekend.

From that race onward, Red Bull and Max Verstappen have faced challenges from McLaren and Ferrari and different stages. The last two races won by Max in Canada and Spain came down to the driver and the team making the difference by being peerless in front of the competition. Max beat Lando in both races by being the better driver.

Talking to the media, Christian Horner was pragmatic about the fact that the competition had caught up. The Red Bull team principal cited something former McLaren boss Ron Dennis had told him when he first joined F1 that stable regulations lead to closer competition.

As quoted by RacingNews365, Horner said:

"You [should] ignore 2023, we had an amazing [year], it was a unicorn, but this is normal. There are great teams and great drivers, there is going to be competition, and this is the benefit of stable regulations, it always converges. I remember when I first came into F1, Ron Dennis said to me: 'if you want close racing, just leave it alone' he said in an F1 Commission meeting."

He added:

"Everything always converges and that is what we're seeing at the moment, and we're going to smash it all up for 2026. We're having to fight really hard for wins at the moment, and have to be on top of our game as a team - and that is Formula 1 how it should be."

Red Bull team principal lauds the perfectionist nature of the team

The Red Bull boss was questioned if he would prefer winning races by 40 seconds and dominating compared to this intense competition every weekend. Horner admitted that a dominant race is arguably less stressful, but there is more satisfaction to be taken out of a race where the team and driver were perfect and made a difference.

He said (via the aforementioned source):

"I would prefer winning races by 40 seconds, it is less stressful, but I take more satisfaction out of a race win [like the Spanish GP], because everybody has had to deliver. Max was outstanding, the team has delivered, the engineers and strategists have delivered, the simulations, everything that has gone into the races, has delivered."

Red Bull is in a battle for the Constructors' title this season. With Max Verstappen not getting enough support from Sergio Perez in the last few races, the competition is going to be intense to keep the advantage.