Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has quashed a recent claim made by Lewis Hamilton, who believes that the Austrians will remain unbeatable “for the next couple of years”.
As things stand, the Milton Keynes-based outfit are in a complete league of their own, mostly thanks to three-time World Champion Max Verstappen.
Red Bull as a team have claimed a ridiculous 36 wins since the start of 2022, although Verstappen is responsible for 32 of them.
Sergio Perez has very much been beatable, unlike Verstappen who has only been beaten three times this year.
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The 26-year-old’s dominance has elevated Red Bull to a new level, with the help of the unbelievable RB19.
Given how strong the duo are, Hamilton expects the Austrians to remain at the front at least until the current regulations change in 2026, when the new power unit rules will be introduced.
“I think, ultimately, all I can do is try and remain optimistic. The Red Bull, I think, is so far away. I think they’re probably going to be very clear for the next couple of years,” Hamilton said, as reported by Motorsport Week.
Hamilton’s Red Bull prediction is shared by several members of the paddock; however, Horner doesn’t think it’s accurate.
The Red Bull boss believes it’s “difficult” to predict who’ll be at the top the following year given how teams are all constantly making changes, whilst the Austrians are also close to reaching the maximum possible performance under the current regulations.
Whilst Red Bull are “very motivated” to ensure they remain as the dominant outfit, Horner has stressed that the grid “will become closer”, something he suspects will end their dominance.
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“It’s always difficult to read too much into those things. I think that it’s a lot of world championships that are won in the wind tunnel numbers at this time of year,” Horner told Autosport.
“I think that we’ve got a great car, we’ve got a great basis. We need to keep evolving it, but of course, the returns are going to diminish because you’re hitting the top of the curve. And you can see it will concertina. It will become closer and that will stretch us more.
“But the team are very, very motivated. You can see nobody’s let off since we won the championship. Everybody’s still fully on it.”