“This is the biggest chance of his career”- Christian Horner on Max Verstappen’s title challenge

“This is the biggest chance of his career”- Christian Horner opines that it would be the best title challenge for Red Bull with the Dutchman.

Red Bull has been hyped up for the title challenge this year, as Mercedes had its own predicaments. Meanwhile, the Milton-Keynes team has been looking immensely powerful with the recent upgrades.

Yet Christian Horner believes that beating Mercedes would be an incredible feat, as their all winnings were latest, but at the same time feels Verstappen’s this shot will be the best yet.

“Arguably winning with Max would be our biggest single achievement in Formula One for the size of the challenge,” Horner, whose team won four successive title doubles from 2010-13 with Sebastian Vettel, told Reuters.

“They (Hamilton and Mercedes) are absolute titans of the sport at the moment. I think that it would be our biggest achievement if we were able to beat them.”

Max Verstappen’s biggest chance

While discussing Hamilton’s triumphs, Horner talked about how Verstappen still has the chance against the Mercedes duo, who have been dominating for the past few years.

“Lewis is the most successful driver of all time, and he’s only just achieved those records, so he’s still at his peak, and what he’s achieved in the sport is unsurpassed,” he said.

“He’s going to be a huge adversary this year, and he goes into the season absolutely the favourite to defend his multiple championship-winning runs. We are still very much the underdogs, but we are a challenger and will never give up.

“Mercedes are operating at such a high level that we’re going to have to perform out of our skins to achieve the kind of level to beat them and beat them consistently,” added Horner. “I’m not even thinking about that or what that would feel like.”

Last year, Hamilton only raced 16 races out of 17, as he wasn’t available for the Sakhir GP after being tested positive of COVID-19, yet he won 11 races. In comparison, his partner Bottas and Verstappen won 2 races each, and one odd race was won by Sergio Perez, thus showcasing the deficit.

“Max is in great shape. I think we’ve got a decent car to get the season underway with, and it’s down to us to provide a competitive car,” said Horner.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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