Even the most casual of F1 observers knows there’s little love lost between Mercedes and Red Bull Racing and Christian Horner now blames their arch rivals for costing Lewis Hamilton the prized eight drivers’ title. Mercedes were a works outfit for a handful of years in the early days of Formula One then let the sport following a huge crash at Le Mans killing 83 spectators and French driver Pierre Levegh, and injuring around 120 more.

The German auto brand did re-enter the sport in 1994 providing engines for Sauber and won titles with McLanre before buying the one year wonder Brawn GP team and rejoining as a works outfit again in 2010. They joined the grid as Red Bull set upon a four year period of dominance winning both constructors’ and drivers titles between 2010-2013.

 

 

 

 

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Mercedes had been gearing up for this switch for over three years and spent a reported $1b in research and development to deliver a power unit that was superior to the rest of the field. 

Meanwhile, Renault missed the mark completely. Their power unit was lacking in horsepower and unreliable and it cost Red Bull dear. Whilst they finished second behind Mercedes in the championship the points gap was 701-405 in favour of the silver arrows.

At the first round of the year, Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified because Renault failed to regulate their fuel flow within regulation limits which infuriated Christian Horner and was the beginning of the breakup of the relationship between Red Bull and their engine supplier.

Such was the dominance of the Mercedes power unit that Williams were third in the championship that season ahead of Ferrari who too had their propulsion woes.

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Hamilton won the title for the first two turbo hybrid years and in 2016 Nico Rosberg the other Mercedes driver clinched the F1 top spot. Rosberg retired immediately and Lewis went on to claim four more consecutive titles taking him level with Michael Schumacher’s all time record of 7 driver championships.

Then came 2021. Whilst Mercedes had the slightly faster car, Red Bull and Max Verstappen eaked out a lead over their rivals. Such that having won in Austin Texas and Mexico Verstappen was on the verge of claiming his first drivers’ title.

Yet Lewis Hamilton wasn’t done he claimed the next three victories though there were questions over Mercedes use of the power unit rules in Brazil. This set up the decider in Abu Dhabi where the Mercedes car was favourite for the win and Hamilton and Verstappen started the race on equal points.

The rest is history and an unusual decision from race control meant Verstappen on fresh tyres had one lap to beat Hamilton who had ageing rubber underneath him.

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Horner praises Hamilton’s “dignity”

Verstappen easily passed Hamilton to claim the victory and his first F1 title but the response from Mercedes was of utter fury. For a short time it appeared they were lawyering up and ready to sue the FIA for their handling of the race.

Yet despite the furore and crushing disappointment, Christian Horner now reveals Lewis Hamilton’s away from the camera behaviour immediately following the realisation he had lost the much prized eight F1 world title.

Horner tells Sky Sports: “I felt the way that Lewis handled that disappointment after the race, hats off to him. Because he would have been even more disappointed.

“Record-breaking World Championship has just disappeared but he handled himself with dignity and respect. I shook his hand in the driver’s room after the race and he had the good grace to say well done.”

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Mercedes strategists played it safe

While Horner has bucket loads of sympathy for Hamilton, he has zero for the strategists at Mercedes. A late safety car with five laps to go created a dilemma for Mercedes. If they pitted for fresh tyres the could lose track position to Verstappen but he would be on old worn rubber which would favour Hamilton at any restart.

The flip side of the coin was should Verstappen pit for fresh rubber it would place two or three lapped cars between himself and Hamilton. Mercedes calculated even were the race to be restarted then Max would have insufficient time to pass the back markers an Lewis as well.

So they decided to take the safe option and retain track position and not pit Hamilton.

Of course Red Bull rolled the dice and pitted Max teeing him up should the race restart. Throughout the year the teams had petitioned Michael Massi the race director not to delay safety car restarts and get the racing under way. A Grand Prix finishing behind the safety car upset the fans and was an anti climax.

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Massi makes ‘lets race ‘ call

Massi decided to ensure this did not happen, he would allow only the lapped cars between Verstappen and Hamilton to move out the way, not the entire field. Whilst an unusual decision he was within his rights as F1 race director to make such a call.

This infuriated Toto Wolff who was pictured slamming his headphones onto the desk knowing the inevitable was about to occur. Yet had Mercedes pitted Lewis it would have been he who was the hunter and Verstappen the prey on ageing tyres.

Massi suffered hate mail and death threats from Hamilton supporters but Horner has little sympathy for the plight Mercedes found themselves in.

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Hamilton hopes of 8th title remote

“A lot is made about the final lap,” he adds. “But Mercedes went into that race and they were quicker than us. In the Grand Prix, Lewis was able to manage the gap to Max pretty comfortably but then they went very defensive, they went very conservative.

“They left Lewis out on a set of tyres that were 43 laps old so he was only ever a Safety Car [away from being] hugely exposed. I think in being defensive, they exposed themselves to the situation that unfolded,” Horner concludes.

The following season saw the biggest car design regulations for a generation and Mercedes missed the mark by some significant measure. Hamilton now has not won a race for two seasons and the team are risking it all this year on a brand new car design while others continue the evolution of their 2023 cars.

It appears Red Bull will dominate until the next big rule changes in 2026 when Lewis Hamilton will be 41. How eight record breaking triple now looks a remote hope particularly given the strength of McLaren and Ferrari who finished the season just gone quicker than the silver arrows. 

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