Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says his main challenge in handling Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez’s Formula 1 title battle was not letting “paranoia” flare.
With Red Bull’s RB19 proving to be the class of the peloton and well clear of the opposition, the fight for the Drivers’ Championship appears to be exclusively between its drivers.
Such internal rivalry has proven difficult for teams to manage in the past, as it increases the prospects of boiling over competitive tensions.
Horner is well aware of the dangers of such a scenario, but believes that as long as his team does everything possible to treat Verstappen and Perez equally on all fronts, there won’t be any problems.
“I think it’s a luxury issue,” Horner said when asked by Motorsport.com what the biggest challenge was facing two title-seeking drivers.
“First of all, any team manager in the pit lane hopes to have this problem, and it’s something we’ve experienced before.
“The most important thing is to make sure that paranoia doesn’t set in and that both drivers are treated equally.
“You try to ensure equality in terms of who comes out of the garage first every weekend. They even alternate in the debriefing on who speaks first.
“But you know, it’s racing, it’s Formula 1, and sometimes something happens like a safety car or a pit stop. You can’t control every aspect of the sport and there’s still variables.
“I think as long as the drivers know they both have an equal chance, and it ultimately comes down to what they do on the circuit. That’s where you want it to be, not by reliability , for example, to play a key role in a championship fight between your two drivers within your own team.”
The Mercedes point of view
Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO of Mercedes-AMG, at the Team Principals’ press conference
Picture by: Motorsport Images
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has faced his own challenges in the past dealing with tough driver situations, particularly when Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton have battled on several occasions.
He knows how difficult it can be to see clearly in such situations – which is why he thinks full transparency between them is essential.
“From my past, it’s a super tricky job for Christian and the team, because both drivers will obviously try to always feel they’re being treated fairly and equally while trying to get an advantage,” he said. he declared.
“In our team, it was important to maintain a lot of transparency and clarity, to have discussions before going racing on a Sunday and to set limits.
“In the end, both drivers, even with Nico and Lewis, respected the team’s opinion as we recognized there was a fight, and they fight each other. So going back in time , there are things that I would probably have done differently in 2016, in particular.
“But finding the right balance between accepting that these two guys are racing for a championship, and it’s in the same garage, and at the same time they’re part of a larger structure. I think that’s not always easy, because they are very competitive animals.”
