Dubai: Red Bull Racing principal Christian Horner has predicted a harder time from their closest competitors heading into the next season.
Horner, who has overseen the growth of team since 2005, observed that competition between teams, especially the top three has got even tougher with each passing season. “If we were to reflect on the 12 months gone by then we have seen that the interest and the dynamics of our sports has grown considerably. For the new owners [Liberty Media] this has been a great learning curve, but they have come forward with a fresh and unbiased approach,” Horner said.
“And for us representing teams it has been a growing time as well as we continue to help the growth of our sport with people at the centre of this growth. What we would ideally like to see is a much closer competition between us teams so that when we sit here again in 12 months’ time, the title goes right down to the wire and all of us are in the running for the championship honours.”
The 44-year-old Horner expected the competitive gap to further narrow down between all teams. “We can surely expect a harder time from Ferrari and Red Bull to start with, and the other teams will also follow suit,” Horner remarked.
The good news definitely for Horner will be the inclusion of car manufacturers Aston Martin as title sponsors. The new team will be called Aston Martin Red Bull Racing from 2018. Aston Martin and Red Bull have established an advanced performance centre at the latter’s UK base in Milton Keynes as they collaborate on F1 and road car technology. Red Bull will continue to be powered by Renault engines in 2018, but there is much speculation that this may change by the end of next year.
“The focus right now is to ensure we end the season on a high note,” Horner said.
