Red Bull boss Christian Horner admits that they would never swap Max Verstappen’s World Title for the Constructors’ crown.
At the Abu Dhabi GP earlier this month, Verstappen became Red Bull’s first World Champion since Sebastian Vettel in 2013. It was cause for celebration for everyone involved with the Milton-Keynes based team.
Mercedes have ruled F1 throughout the turbo-hybrid era, and in 2021 won their 8th consecutive Constructors’ Title. This season, however, Red Bull managed to get together a car that seriously threatened the Silver Arrows’ dominance.
In the end, Mercedes reigned supreme after a series of poor performances from the Austrian team. The Constructors’ Championship is where the teams get their money from but Horner is adamant that no one in their team would want to trade Verstappen’s title for the big bucks.
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“The constructors’ is where the money is,” he said. “That is where the revenues that come into the sport are distributed. Based on your performance in the championship.”
“I think every employee within our team, and probably in most of the teams, is rewarded on where they are in the constructors’ championship, as opposed to the drivers’.”
“But the drivers’ obviously has the popularity and it has the prestige. I don’t think there’s a single employee within our business that would have traded the first place in the constructors’ for this drivers’ championship.”
Max Verstappen was greeted like a hero at the Red Bull factory
Despite missing out on the big money prize, everyone involved with the Red Bull team gave a hero’s welcome to Verstappen when he returned to their factory in Milton-Keynes.
“When you see the reaction that Max had when he visited the factory. Everyone is so proud of what he’s achieved,” Horner continued.
“Of course the constructors’ has huge importance to it because of that revenue distribution. And we’re talking millions and millions of dollars in difference between a first and a second place, for example.”
“But the prestige of the drivers’ world championship, that’s the big one. That’s the one that you really want. And you know, that’s why it meant so much achieving that,” he added.
Red Bull finished 28 points behind Mercedes in the standings. Taking Mercedes’ recent dominance into account, Horner insisted that he was very proud of his team for taking the fight to the team from Brackley.
“And I think what makes it even more rewarding is that during the hybrid era, Mercedes have been all dominant, they’ve annihilated the opposition. And finally, we’ve managed to produce a competitive car and Max has grabbed it with both hands.”
“To manage to come out on top with the biggest title on offering in motorsport is a tremendously proud moment for us. And obviously, we’re tremendously proud of what Max has achieved.”
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