How long will Red Bull’s domination last? We won’t be like Mercedes then, said Horner, explaining why

According to Christian Horner, Red Bull will not be as dominant a team as Mercedes, at least in terms of the length of dominance. Indeed, the Red Bull boss sees how the teams are steadily converging thanks to regulations in terms of technological concept, a warning may also be McLaren’s huge progress.

The Red Bull Racing team has been absolutely dominant this season and unless something very unexpected happens, they will probably go for their second overall championship in a row among the constructors.

After all, Red Bull has won all ten races in 2023. Max Verstappen dominated eight of the grand prix, with his teammate Sergio Pérez winning two.

The Austrian team now has 411 points, 208 points ahead of second-placed Mercedes. Verstappen leads the drivers’ championship by 99 points over second-placed Pérez.

Red Bull is now on course to win both championships. The question is, when will this dominance stop or at least slow down?

Team boss Christian Horner certainly doesn’t see it going back to those seven long years when Formula One fans had to watch the sometimes brutal domination of Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton driving to one smooth victory after another.

And why is Horner rather sceptical about this? Because Red Bull can now concentrate on developing next year’s car. But the question is how much further the performance of the current machine can go. And that’s the factor that will allow the Austrian stable to move closer and closer.

Under the current regulations, you can see how almost all the teams are coming together in terms of technological concept. The big warning for everyone, for example, is McLaren’s huge performance shift.

The British team started the season as one of the worst teams, which also missed the technological concept of the car under the new rules. However, after the latest package of modifications (since the Austrian Grand Prix) came a massive improvement, with McLaren taking second and fourth at Silverstone.

Red Bull won’t reign for seven years

“One thing we know from this sport is that teams will converge. You can already see it starting to happen, and the most important thing for convergence is stability (of the rules),” said Horner after the British Grand Prix, whose words were also quoted by Motorsport.

“The stability of the regulations will bring all the teams much closer together. It won’t be another seven years of domination,” he explained.

Horner concluded by adding that going the Red Bull way and setting up a similar philosophy was inevitable. It is logical, he said, that other teams try to emulate the most successful one. And he cited McLaren’s MCL60 car as an example.

Source: F1, Motorsport