Christian Horner reveals crucial difference Max Verstappen made in ...

Christian Horner has revealed where he believes Max Verstappen made all the difference relative to Lando Norris in the Drivers’ Championship this year.

Verstappen clinched his fourth consecutive world title last weekend in Las Vegas, opening up his points lead over Norris to an insurmountable 63 points with two race weekends remaining.

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

After the dominance of F1 2023, in which Verstappen won 19 of the 22 races, this year has been a very different challenge.

While the season began in a similar vein of form as Verstappen won four of the first six races and challenged for the win in the other two, Red Bull‘s form fell away through the second quarter of the season as the development path for the RB20 went awry.

This resulted in an ill-handling car, with Verstappen unable to challenge for podiums at some races, let alone victories. Meanwhile, McLaren’s development path with the MCL38 was the opposite – the Woking-based team sprang forward to have the most versatile car on the grid and usually was in the mix for wins.

But Red Bull managed to stabilise the ship in the final quarter of the season, starting with a floor update brought to the United States Grand Prix, with Verstappen’s emphatic win in Brazil opening up his lead over Norris to all but put the title out of reach.

Speaking about Verstappen’s self-belief and confidence as the Dutch driver fought against the rising tide of Norris and McLaren, Christian Horner said Verstappen’s brilliance at scoring strong results under such pressure only served to motivate the entire team to ensure the title didn’t slip away.

“Well, look, of course, it is a team,” he told media, including PlanetF1.com, after the chequered flag in Las Vegas.

“He’s been inspirational from within the cockpit because weekend in, weekend out, he’s been delivering, and he’s driven brilliantly this year, and that obviously inspires the rest of the team.

“His self-confidence, self-belief, you only have to watch the outlap at the beginning of any grand prix weekend to see the level of confidence, the level of self-belief that he has in himself.

“I think he’s driven with real maturity this year, because we haven’t had the fastest car at every race, and, on the days that we haven’t had the fastest car, he’s made sure that he’s extracted the absolute best out of it and scored big points.”

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As for whether it’s that self-belief which made all the difference against Norris, who was fighting for his maiden title after claiming his first Grand Prix win in Miami, Horner said it was clear the Dutch driver had had the edge.

“Absolutely. Lando, since Miami, has had a faster car, and you look at the win ratio, it’s heavily stacked in Max’s favour,” he said.

“That’s saying nothing away from Lando, he has driven very well this year, but I think Max has just been that step ahead.”

Verstappen had asserted that he believed he didn’t have the fastest car on the grid for around 70 percent of this season, a figure Horner said he didn’t disagree with.

“I would say that was about right,” he said.

“From since Miami, I would say, that was a turning point, and the car was difficult to drive.

“It was very difficult to drive, but he was able to adapt and get the most out of it. I think we’ve improved it in latter races, but certainly, around Monza time, it looked like the championship was slipping away.”

Given that Verstappen was fighting with a car unable to challenge for wins for a sizeable portion of the year, does Horner believe his driver made the biggest difference when it came to ensuring the title stayed out of McLaren’s reach?

“Max has been the outstanding driver, absolutely,” he said.

“But he’s part of a team. And you win as a team and you lose as a team.

“I think he’s absolutely inspired within the cockpit and, head and shoulders, been the best driver on the grid this year.”

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