Christian Horner was facing the stewards with his Mercedes counterpart within half an hour of winning the championship.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner has given more insights about the night of the Abu Dhabi controversy. Mercedes had come prepared with a top QC for a possible controversy during the final race of the season.
Soon after the race had ended, Mercedes lodged an official complaint against the decisions of the race director. The entire controversy started when a safety car was brought on the track as a result of Nicholas Latifi’s crash towards the final lap of the race.
Following this, the race director Michael Masi decided to let the cars between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen overtake the safety car before the restart of the race. Doing this, he led Max Verstappen to come right behind his rival.
Verstappen backed by his fresher tyres capitalised on the situation to overtake Hamilton, who was still using the old, worn-out tyres. Unable to put up a fight in the last lap, Hamilton lost the championship and the Dutchman took his maiden title home.
Speaking about that night, Horner revealed what it had been like to have to go from celebrating a title victory to arguing over sporting regulations.
“Within half an hour you’re sitting in front of a barrister and the race stewards. You’re in there, sticky with champagne against a top QC.”
Christian Horner says F1 is in the most profitable position
Even after two months of controversy, it is still a hot topic among fans. Following a series of backlash on the legality of the race, FIA took the decision to remove Masi from his position.
Instead of him now there will be two race directors who will take the role on alternate weekends. They will also have support from a permanent race advisor. FIA has also decided to set up a ‘Virtual Safety Control Room’.
While the entire controversy caused a lot of chaos and questioned the integrity of the competition, it has given a huge boost to F1 financially.
Because of the controversy being such a hot topic, Horner said that it has made the sport more marketable to huge investors. He says that F1 is in its strongest financial position.
“You’ve got a few of the private equity boys coming in. Investment interest has never been higher and there’s no team struggling, which is unusual,” he added.
“We are currently profitable. With the revenues that we’re generating and the franchise, value is just increasing.
“The business model for F1 is starting to make sense with the revenues flowing into the sport and costs being under control and the commercial interest. Now there’s a genuine value attached to it.”
“The desire for Formula 1 is at an all-time high. Markets, where the sport was struggling like the US, are now flying,” Horner said.
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