How Red Bull team boss Christian Horner ranks the world title battle with Ferrari and why he believes there will be plenty of spice to come as the season progresses
It’s all sunshine between Ferrari and Red Bull so far, although the top two teams are battling it out for race wins as the 2022 Formula One season gets underway. But team boss Christian Horner believes it won’t stay that way.
Ahead of the fifth round of the season in Miami Horner said: “At some point in the course of the season it inevitably comes to a boiling point because it gets tighter and there’s a lot more at stake in the second half of the year.”
But there is no question of that at the moment, he added. Horner recognises “very respectful racing” around Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, speaking of “tough but fair” duels on the track. The first four Grands Prix of the year have been “epic” in this respect, says Horner.
And he can’t resist a dig in the direction of Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff: While he calls Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto a “nice guy”, there were “some spikes” in the 2021 World Championship duel with Mercedes, says Horner. “It was also high off the track back then. “
Horner and Red Bull sporting director Helmut Marko had repeatedly clashed with Wolff in the media in 2021, verbal poison darts flew back and forth. In 2022, Horner continues, he sees “simply a different kind of competition” between Ferrari and Red Bull. Probably also because so far there has been little at stake compared to the final phase of the previous season.
In any case, Horner believes Mercedes cannot be written off. “The season is only four races old and [the Mercedes] was the fastest [car] on Friday [in Miami]. So Toto still has enough time to bring his team back to the top. And I think Mercedes will be up there pretty soon as well. “