“You can’t defend against that”– Christian Horner frustrated with Lewis Hamilton’s massive engine pace superiority ahead of Abu Dhabi GP

Tanish Chachra | 07/12/2021
"You can't defend against that"– Christian Horner frustrated with Lewis Hamilton's massive engine pace superiority ahead of Abu Dhabi GP

Red Bull boss Christian Horner claims that it is unlikely Max Verstappen would manage to defeat Lewis Hamilton with such a pace deficit.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are again set to vie for the title at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. But this time, it will be the final showdown, the end of the wire. Everything will be settled here.

Currently, the momentum lies with Hamilton after his recent successive three wins. The Red Bull boss also points out that the power deficit Verstappen will face in Abu Dhabi is staggering.

“They’ve changed the layout and unfortunately the engine speed that Hamilton has, it’s… he was a second quicker [in the race at Jeddah], a second quicker in Sectors 2 and 3. Max would pull out half a second by Turn 13,” he said on the F1 Nation podcast.

“You know, you can’t defend against that. It’s the most frustrating thing for a driver to be sitting with that kind of deficit. That’s what I think has been really frustrating,” he added.

“The last three or four races we have just been watching that dominant straight-line performance, which you can’t do anything about.”

Also read: “It’s absolutely genuine”: Toto Wolff clears his hostile relations with Christian Horner is not for Netflix

Christian Horner: Battle is not over

Despite believing in Mercedes’ superiority, Horner believes that the battle is far from over, and  Verstappen is still in contention to win the world title.

“Max is a fighter and if there’s a driver that deserves to win this World Championship, it’s Max Verstappen, because Mercedes have had the better car,” added Horner.

“He has driven outstandingly. Look how close Valtteri [Bottas] has been to Lewis this year. Max has been head and shoulders, for me, the driver of the year.

“He would be very deserving, you know, to win this championship. The way he’s driven this year, the way he’s conducted himself, I think has been outstanding.”

Also read: Former F1 champion calls everything at Jeddah on Sunday absolutely wrong and urges not to make F1 a Hollywood show

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Christian Horner Lewis Hamilton Max Verstappen Mercedes Red Bull

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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