“The first drivers’ world championship since Ayrton Senna in 1991” – Christian Horner feels Honda’s first title in three decades is more special than the four titles Red Bull won with Renault from 2010 to 2013 with Sebastian Vettel.
Red Bull stunningly broke Mercedes’ unprecedented dominance in the turbo-hybrid era, helping Max Verstappen to become a world champion for the very first time.
This wouldn’t have been possible without the grit and determination of Honda, and their resolve to win a title before taking a sabbatical from the sport to pursue environmental sustainability interests.
For Red Bull, Honda > Renault
Red Bull supremo Christian Horner is immensely proud of their association with the Japanese giants, rating it higher than their four-titles winning partnership with French automakers Renault.
“The passion, the commitment, just their work ethic.
“When they came back into the sport [with McLaren] they had a hard time but they kept their heads down, they worked hard at it and from day one of this relationship, it’s been phenomenal.
“You can see that through their culture, this work ethic they have.
“The engine for this year was brought forward 12 months and were it not for the incident at Silverstone [the high-speed crash into a barrier], Max would have done the entire season on three engines.
“The first drivers’ world championship in 30 years since Ayrton Senna in 1991 is an enormous moment for them.
“We’re tremendously proud of what we’ve achieved with Honda, for what they’ve provided and given us, and we now look forward to a future without Honda officially but maintaining a relationship with them over the next few years.”
