Max Verstappen won his first world championship in 2021, after a season-long battle with rival Lewis Hamilton. The euphoria and celebration after the season finale were grand, but it made the entire Red Bull team go down with Covid, according to team principal Christian Horner.
Verstappen’s battle with Hamilton went right down to the wire and was only settled on the final lap of the final race of 2021. It was decided under very controversial circumstances, but also ended Red Bull’s eight-year wait for a world championship victory.
The two onboard views of that extraordinary final lap #AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/1FiDGddxjC
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 16, 2021
The win was celebrated thoroughly, and the parties went late into the night. Unfortunately, for the team, the celebrations came at a cost as Horner reveals how everyone got sick with Covid in the coming weeks. This affected the team’s Christmas plans, as most of them were quarantined, and spent time isolated at home. In the Extraordinary Tales Podcast, Horner said-
“It was the first time we could literally get everybody together, have a drink, celebrate, and of course everybody then got bloody Covid-19 after the party and Christmas was a write-off.”
Celebrating Verstappen’s victory for important for Red Bull
2021 was the season of redemption for Red Bull and Christian Horner. Between 2010 and 2013, they were the top team in F1, led by Horner and Sebastian Vettel as they won four back to back championships. With the onset of the turbo hybrid era in 2014, however, Mercedes took over the title of the most dominant team.
For the next six years, they would go on to win every single championship, whereas Red Bull struggled to catch up to them, and sometimes even Ferrari. As a result, Max Verstappen winning the 2021 Drivers’ championship was very important for Red Bull.
Horner admitted that they knew they were in the middle of a pandemic. However, not celebrating the end of a seven-year long wait didn’t seem right to him. He said-
“It was incredibly important as a team to go out and celebrate success and enjoy the success. So that night we did exactly that, and we celebrated the success that we’d had.”
Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s sustained period of dominance
After winning the 2021 world championship, Verstappen insisted that his life’s dream was fulfilled, and winning anything more would be an added bonus. Well, the Dutchman went ahead and did just that- chase the bonus. In 2022, he decimated the rest of the field, to win the drivers’ championship with four races to spare.
“Where are the others?!”
Christian Horner on Red Bull’s dominance this season 👊 pic.twitter.com/LgLSW6HhQL
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) May 7, 2023
For Red Bull, 2022 was an even more important year because they won both the drivers’ and the constructors’ world titles. It was the first time they won the team’s championship since 2013, and it brought in a huge amount of money for the team.
This season, Red Bull have the most dominant car once again, with Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez sharing all five-race wins so far. They are the firm favorite to win both world championships once again.
