Christian Horner and Red Bull are on top of the world in F1 at the moment. His arch-rival Toto Wolff, however, is struggling to take Mercedes to similar heights. According to 1996 world champion Damon Hill, Horner will be enjoying Wolff’s misery, especially after what he went through between 2014 and 2021.
Red Bull has built the strongest car in 2023 by far. This comes on the back of a dominant campaign in 2022, which saw them win both the constructors’ and drivers’ world championships with multiple races to spare. This season, however, they have kicked things up a notch.
Red Bull has won all 12 races so far this year, with Max Verstappen winning 10 of those. His teammate Sergio Perez won the other two outings. As the season resumes this weekend following a three-week break, Hill spoke about the current dynamic between Horner and his rival Wolff, and how the former is enjoying things as they are.
Red Bull and Christian Horner happy to snatch the baton of dominance
When the turbo-hybrid era started in 2014, Red Bull became extremely frustrated. Mercedes started dominating the sport, winning almost every single race. Red Bull meanwhile, became unable to compete at the front and had to settle for P2 or P3 positions for the majority of the next six years. Now that Horner and Red Bull are winning races once again, he is having the time of his life.
“Toto has already had the success and no longer has it,” said Hill as per GP Blog. “Christian will secretly enjoy that Toto now knows what it feels like to always see the other person win.”
Mercedes is an outfit that is used to winning races, and now, they have won just one Grand Prix in the last two years. It has been an extremely difficult few months for Wolff and the Silver Arrows who have had to come to terms with watching Red Bull win races week in and week out.
Red Bull and Mercedes compared to McLaren and Williams
Teams dominating F1 at any given time is not a new occurrence, despite fans claiming that the sport has become boring since Red Bull started dominating in 2022. In fact, this ‘baton of dominance’ keeps passing on from one great team to another, as Hill suggested in his interview.
The British former racing driver took the example of McLaren and Williams to explain the rivalry between Red Bull and Mercedes. “It is the same in a way as in the 80’s, when McLaren and Williams alternated,” he said. “Those were the two team that no one could get close to. Now McLaren is back on the road, but Williams is not yet.
Red Bull are currently favorites to not just win the championship, but win it with multiple races to spare. Their star driver Max Verstappen, is 125 points ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez, and if things go his way, he can win the title as early as the Qatar GP.
