Red Bull’s success that has led to it winning 100 grands prix is down to the culture within the team, according to team principal Christian Horner.
Max Verstappen’s victory in the Canadian Grand Prix was his 41st – matching Ayrton Senna – and made Red Bull the fifth team to reach 100 wins after Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Williams. Joining such an elite group, Horner says he believes the sole focus of trying to win races and not being concerned about other aspects of the company sets the team apart.
“It’s the people,” Horner said. “It’s the spirit. It’s the culture. It’s the attitude that we have. It’s the way that we go about racing. It’s the desire. It’s the passion. It’s the commitment. It’s all of those aspects, because when you work for a team like Red Bull it’s clear what our goal is.
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“We want to win and we want to be competitive and everybody gives their best and they buy into that and you feel that energy in the factory. It’s a culture that we have which is that we’re different to other teams. It’s a racing team – it’s just a big racing team.”
Horner believes Verstappen’s latest success will have resonated with the Dutchman even if he doesn’t publicly show much in the way of reaction to matching Senna’s tally of wins.
“I think part of him inside will be quite proud of that,” he said. “I don’t think he’s one to show huge emotion. He’s a very modest guy, he’s very understated in many ways, but I think behind the scenes it will actually mean quite a lot to him.”
“What we’re witnessing with Max is the emergence of another mega talent, and you can start to talk about him in the same sentences as the greats now. Having matched Ayrton Senna, I thought the podium was actually very apt of the last couple of decades of Formula 1 with Max, Fernando (Alonso) and Lewis (Hamilton) up there.
“He keeps delivering at such a high level, the race was fantastic but for me (qualifying) was outstanding. In conditions that were continually changing, his ability to adapt at all points to whatever tire and whatever grip level that he had was Max at his best.”