Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has lauded Max Verstappen for his pivotal role in guiding the team through its performance slump during its challenging 2024 F1 season.
The Milton Keynes-based outfit its campaign with the strongest car on the grid, but an upgrade implemented at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix coupled with correlation issues derailed their performance, allowing rivals McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes to close the gap.
However, Verstappen’s calm demeanor and precise feedback during the challenging period was instrumental in helping Red Bull’s engineers address the RB20’s struggles.
Although the Dutchman found himself under pressure in the title battle from McLaren’s Lando Norris, in a way he hadn’t experienced in recent years, the Dutchman’s steady drive and support eventually allowed him to claim his fourth Drivers’ crown in F1.
Horner shed light on his team’s struggles and Verstappen’s crucial role in putting the team’s performance back on track.
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“It almost felt like something changed dramatically,” the red Bull chief recalled. “Suddenly three other teams became competitive, and we suddenly started to experience some issues that became very limiting.
“Then it was a question of ‘and then your tools don’t correlate with what’s going on on track’. And that’s when the driver really becomes a key element.”
Horner credited Verstappen for remaining calm and composed during Red Bull’s worrying stagnation relative to its rivals.
“Max never panicked. Even on the tough days, he spent the long hours with the engineers really rolling his sleeves up and getting stuck in,” Horner explained.
“Working behind the scenes on the simulator, spending the time with vehicle dynamicists and aerodynamicists just talking through ‘OK, this is where you need to focus, this is where the key issue is with this one’, based on what he’s feeling.
“When your tools don’t tie in with the circuit, the best sense of that you’ve got is the driver. And that’s where Max was hugely impressive this year – the leadership that he inspired from within the car for the direction that we needed to take to address some of the issues.”
Another critical aspect of Verstappen’s contribution, Horner noted, was his ability to articulate the car’s limitations with precision.
“He is just very straight to the point of what are the limiting factors and what are the characteristics that the car is giving him that are limiting him from going quicker.
“So, he will pinpoint very clearly: ‘This is where there is lap time, focus on this area,’” Horner said.
“During the middle part of the season, the tools weren’t really correlating with the circuit, and that’s where he had to play a very key role in giving the engineers the key focal areas of where they needed to put time and effort to improve.”
Thanks to Verstappen’s guidance and the engineers’ hard work, Red Bull began to recover their performance toward the end of the season.
“We’ve then seen at the back end of the year performance start to come back on the car,” Horner concluded.
While Verstappen endured a ten-race winless streak after his victory in Spain, his triumph at the wet Sao Paulo Grand Prix marked a turning point.
The 27-year-old showcased his mastery in challenging conditions, securing a commanding victory. A dry-weather win in Qatar followed, confirming that Red Bull had made significant strides in addressing the RB20’s issues.
Whether the RB21 will be a significant improvement over its predecessor remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: Red Bull can rely on Verstappen's talent and leadership qualities going forward.
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