Christian Horner doubts Red Bull and Max Verstappen will be unable to repeat the achievements of their historic 2023 F1 season.
The team-and-driver combination broke numerous records en route to defending their constructors’ and drivers’ championships.
As a constructor, Red Bull won 21 of the 22 grands prix, overhauling Mercedes’ record of 2016 when it won 19 of 21 races. With a 95.5 percent success rate, it also beat the 93.8 percent of McLaren in 1988 when it won 16 of 17 grands prix.
As for Verstappen, his list of achievements was remarkable, with the most notable being the record for most wins in a season with 19, beating his best of 15 from last year.
Verstappen also set a new mark for consecutive number of victories, 10, and the highest percentage of wins in a season, 86.36 percent, beating the previous best of 75 percent by Alberto Ascari in 1952.
Horner feels Red Bull may now have hit its peak.
“It’s been a remarkable season for us,” said Horner. “None of us could ever have imagined the kind of season we’ve just completed.
“To win 21 of the 22 races, five of the six sprint races, defend both titles, and break many records along the way, some that have stood since 1988, it epitomises that every aspect of the team has been operating at a phenomenal level.
“It’s not just the design and the operation of the car, it’s the production, the support functions, it’s every single department across all the different challenges, different types of circuits, and conditions that we’ve had over the year, and reliability. Our partner, Honda, as well, giving us a great product for the year.
“It’s a combination of all those aspects coming together that has just made for the most gratifying team performance that I doubt we’ll be able to achieve again, statistically, with what we’ve done this year.”
As to why the team hit a peak this season, Horner replied: “The team has been evolving, evolving, and we’re always in pursuit of perfection, always looking to improve.
“There are many things we can improve on from this season with the RB19, which is the most successful car in the history of Formula 1 now.
“I think it’s that determination to keep evolving, keep improving, that drives the whole team forward.”
Verstappen, naturally is its spearhead, according to Horner, with the Dutchman never ceasing to amaze in the eyes of his team boss.
“He just continues to hit new levels,” said Horner. “I think the only damage he did this year was driving out of the garage at Silverstone and clipping the front wing.
“It’s just phenomenal the heights he has hit, the consistency, some of the races, even with adversity coming from the back of the grid after issues in qualifying.
“There have been some stunning performances this year, and he just continues to raise the bar.
“It’s just great to see how he works with the team, with his engineering team, and we are exactly that. We’re a team.
“Everybody has just got that same hunger and desire, and of course, Max is leading that from the front, from behind the wheel.”
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