Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner believes Toto Wolff’s comments about the side favouring Max Verstappen show a “lack of understanding” about car development.
Verstappen stormed to a record-breaking 10th consecutive Formula 1 victory on Sunday at Monza, also collecting his 12th win out of 14 races this year.
However, Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez has struggled to match the Dutchman since winning two of the opening four rounds, only finishing runner-up three times in that run.
Perez’s continuous troubles to match his partner’s relentless pace is comparable to the issues that Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon encountered before him, prompting Wolff to suggest that Red Bull tailors its cars exclusively around Verstappen’s driving style.
After Verstappen downplayed Wolff’s assertions, Horner has also dismissed the claim, adding that any team endeavours to simply develop the fastest race car it can.
“Well, I think I completely agree with Max,” Horner said regarding Wolff’s quotes on Friday in Italy.
“It shows a total lack of understanding of how a race car and team develop if Toto thinks that we’re developing a car around a single driver. You develop a car to be as quick as you can and sometimes quick cars are difficult cars. That’s what’s historically been the case. And I think that drivers adapt.
“The good drivers that you see in wet conditions, mixed conditions, varied conditions, the elite [drivers], they adapt quickly and I think that’s one of his key skill sets is his ability to adapt to the feeling and the grip levels that a car gives him.
“But there’s certainly no direction to say ‘oh, we tailor something to suit one specific driver’, we’re just trying to design and build the fastest car that that we can, that our tools, our simulation or our wind tunnel provide us with that direction.”
Verstappen has been unbeaten ever since Perez narrowly beat him to victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the end of April.
However, the two-time World Champion admitted the Baku race helped him discover a breakthrough with the set-up of the RB19 which has aided his record streak.
When asked what Verstappen had specifically found that weekend, Horner responded: “I think he just found… he’s just playing with his driving style and what’s remarkable about him is that when you see how he uses the tools within the car, how he varies his style, it’s truly impressive, and his ability to adapt to conditions, to circumstances.
“Quite often you’ll see it on the first lap of a practice; quite often he’ll go straight to the top of the charts because he’s got this inner confidence in being at one with the car.”
Verstappen and Perez resisted Ferrari’s threat to deliver Red Bull’s maiden 1-2 finish at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Austrian outfit has taken victory in 24 of the last 25 races, with the team now only eight rounds away from completing the entire 2023 F1 season unbeaten.
