Motorsports

Red Bull “humble” over missed clean sweep

Sportem
Sportem
9 Min Read

In the round-up: Red Bull team principal Christian Horner isn’t regretting the one grand prix the team failed to win this year.

In brief

Singapore defeat keeps Red Bull “humble”

Red Bull’s 21st victory of the season on Sunday meant they ended the 2023 championship having only failed to win a single grand prix: The Singapore round in September. Horner said that sole defeat “leaves you humble” in a year when the team and world champion Max Verstappen had achieved unprecedented success.

“There’s still something to strive for,” Horner told media after Sunday’s finale. “It is a useful lesson that things can change quickly. Singapore was a stand-out weekend.

“We never dreamt – you guys have been asking me this since about race three do you think you can win all the races this year. But to win 21 out of 22 races is insanity. For Max to have led over a thousand laps, for him to have won 19 races, to have broken McLaren’s record from ’88, to have broken Seb [Vettel’s] – our own record from 2013 – the win ratios, all the percentages that he’s hit, this car will go down in history, certainly for I think a considerable period of time the most successful car in Formula 1 history.”

Tost fumes over strategy in final race

Outgoing AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost criticised his team’s strategists for their handling of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Yuki Tsunoda started sixth, led the race, but finished eighth.

“I’m pissed off because we were too stupid to choose a proper strategy,” Tost told Sky Germany.

“I had discussions on the pit wall and said that we should get Yuki in. I was told that it would work out. This is pure arithmetics – I realised that it probably wouldn’t work out.

“Seventh place was realistic for Yuki. Sixth place wasn’t, because Perez was behind us and simply faster. The fact that Alonso would overtake us is a simple no-go. We messed it up because the technicians who sit in front of the computers for hours couldn’t figure out the strategy that would ultimately work.”

Final day of official F1 action

All 10 F1 teams are due to take part in a post-season test at the Yas Marina today. Each will run one car for Pirelli tyre testing and a second for a rookie driver.

Bortoleto, Crawford and Maini settle their F2 futures

Three current Formula 1 juniors announced on Monday who they will be racing for in Formula 2 next year.

McLaren’s FIA Formula 3 champion Gabriel Bortoleto will drive for Virtuosi Racing in his rookie F2 season. His team mate will be Kush Maini, who recently has become an Alpine junior, and is a protege of Mika Hakkinen as well as a and reserve driver for Mahindra in Formula E. Maini came 11th in F2 this year.

Jak Crawford has signed with DAMS for his second F2 season, having taken a win and a pole with Hitech GP en route to 13th in the 2023 standings. Although he is currently a Red Bull junior, he will depart its ranks next year. All three drivers will be in action in F2 testing at Yas Marina circuit later this week.

Aron confirms Mercedes exit

Paul Aron, who finished third in the FIA Formula 3 series this year, has confirmed he is no longer part of Mercedes’ young driver programme. “It was a a pleasure to work with such a group of people and I am thankful for their contribution throughout these four-plus years,” he wrote in a social media post.

Aron made his Formula 2 debut in the season finale at Yas Marina last week. He contested the Macau Grand Prix the week before, running as high as second in the final before suffering a major crash.

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