Christian Horner guarantees Nicholas Latifi a lifetime supply of Red Bull after his crash helps Max Verstappen conquer the championship.
Lewis Hamilton was comfortably winning the 2021 championship decider race in Abu Dhabi. Though Max Verstappen was on the fresher tyres, he couldn’t slash his deficit against the Briton at the required pace.
But then, a crash by Nicholas Latifi changed the circumstances, as the safety car drew the two title protagonists in the last few laps. Moreover, Red Bull also saw this as an opportunity to shift Verstappen on soft tyres.
At the end, when the safety car withdrew, Hamilton and Verstappen were wheel-to-wheel, and the soft tyres nailed the deal for the Dutchman.
In conclusion, Latifi is credited for Verstappen’s win, and in response, Horner has commented that the Canadian will have a lifetime supply of Red Bull drinks.
“He’ll be getting a lifetime supply of Red Bull, for sure!” Horner told Channel 4. “Together with [Vitaly] Petrov back in 2010 (who kept Fernando Alonso behind to give the title to Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel).
“So yeah, we needed a bit of luck. We felt that we’d had bad luck earlier in the year at Silverstone and Budapest, [it’s] gone against us. Azerbaijan as well, with Max having a tyre blowout.
“We felt, finally, the final roll of the dice, we got that bit of luck with a Safety Car, and Max made it work!”
Also read: Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko drops a bombshell comment about his team’s future in Formula 1
Unpleasant last lap for Christian Horner
Horner revealed that the last lap of the race wasn’t exhilarating for him, and he was constantly on the edge of his seat. Moreover, he thinks Mercedes had an edge in pace.
“Well, I don’t think I was sitting back enjoying it!” Horner added. “I think Mercedes had a quicker car than us today, though. At the start, we had a bad start, Max made the move in Turn 6.”
“We felt a bit hard done by the stewards not to have got the place back. But thereafter, we just didn’t have the pace to go with Lewis.,” he added.
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