Horner says Red Bull’s development increasingly matched Verstappen’s demands

Red Bull increasingly shaped its car development around Max Verstappen’s preference for strong front-end grip, a direction Christian Horner says made the resulting characteristics harder for the Dutchman’s team-mates. The former team principal discussed the development and Red Bull’s driver priorities on the High Performance podcast.

Horner recalled that Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo began their time as team-mates at a similar level, and said the car was reasonably manageable for both. He placed a shift from 2018 onwards: Verstappen asked for more grip at the front and could adapt to almost any behaviour from the rear. Red Bull’s technical group increasingly developed towards those characteristics, Horner said, while other drivers found them more difficult. He pointed to the 2021 RB16B and the car Alex Albon had driven before it.

For the 2022 car, Horner described a different starting point. Albon had done substantial work behind the scenes on that design while Red Bull kept developing its 2021 car to the last moment, he said. The 2022 car was strongly shaped around Albon’s more traditional style, which Horner said probably had more in common with the driving styles of Sergio Pérez or Ricciardo. At the start of 2022, Verstappen disliked its understeer, while Pérez trusted its predictability. In a meeting with Verstappen’s management, Horner said he argued that the car needed to be developed around Max’s requirements.

Red Bull chose Pérez to partner Verstappen for 2021 after Alex Albon’s performances fell short. Horner said he warned Pérez before he arrived that the team’s title effort was built around Verstappen as the lead driver. If Pérez was in a position to win and performing well, Horner said, there was no problem; otherwise, the team could ask him to support Verstappen as its best route to beating Mercedes. Horner added that Pérez was keen to sign because the move offered a chance to join a top team.

Horner also acknowledged shortcomings in Red Bull’s development tools. He said the wind tunnel was not reliable enough or did not stay sufficiently ahead of developments on track, and that some simulations were inaccurate. Hadjar was doing excellent work in 2026, Horner said, but a clear difference remained between him and Verstappen.