Red Bull F1 representative “We made the most of the new regulations”[F1-Gate.com]

-Red Bull Racing F1 team principal Christian Horner has praised the team’s employees for handling the changes to F1’s technical regulations for 2022 “astonishingly well”.

Red Bull and Mercedes went head-to-head for last year’s F1 world championship, so the two teams had to balance development in 2021 with an overhaul to the ground car in 2022.

Red Bull and Ferrari were the two fastest cars of the season, while Mercedes slowed significantly and dropped to third in the pecking order.

And after overcoming some early reliability concerns, Red Bull is comfortably ahead of Ferrari in both the drivers’ and constructors’ standings.

Max Verstappen leads Charles Leclerc by 80 points, while Red Bull, which has eight wins from 13 races, is almost 100 points behind Ferrari.

Christian Horner looked back on the first half of the 2022 season and offered many superlative compliments to Red Bull Racing’s performance as a team.

“The first 13 races have been great for us,” Horner told RacingNews365.

“We went into the season dragging on last year and were very slow to transition to this new regulation compared to our opponents.”

“I think the team responded surprisingly well and being in a competitive position from the first test is a testament to the hard work behind the scenes.”

“Obviously I was frustrated with the reliability in Bahrain and Australia in the early races, but in Race 2 in Jeddah I bounced back and won that race and had some epic battles with Ferrari.

“These new regulations seem to work pretty well in terms of creating closer racing. I think we’ve maximized our opportunities.”

Christian Horner has expressed satisfaction with the work being done across the board at Red Bull Racing, both at the circuit and at the factory.

“It doesn’t have a single element, it’s a collection,” said Christian Horner.

“I’m happy with the performance of the whole team. The engineering staff, the technicians and the pit stops were strong and consistent. In Hungary, we recorded the fastest stop so far.”

“And of course what’s happening at Milton Keynes. It’s been a phenomenal reaction.”

Christian Horner also believes that after a few years of dormancy after F1 entered the turbo-hybrid ‘power unit era’, Red Bull Racing will make the most of its fully competitive car in 2021 with ‘sharpness’. I’m happy that I’m ready.”

“We’ve always had a very strong racing ethic and culture in how we approach racing and approach challenges,” added Horner.

“We didn’t always have the tools to win every Grand Prix, but from last year when we had the full package for the first time, the team was sharp and ready to take advantage of it.”

“That’s reflected in this year as well, so basically we’re still a race team.”