Horner: Mateschitz not bothered by Abu Dhabi controversy

Christian Horner insists that the controversy that surrounded the 2021 Abu Dhabi Formula 1 GP, where Max Verstappen won his maiden title, doesn’t bother team owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

The 2021 Abu Dhabi GP and the F1 title fight that was decided at its end, would always go down as the most controversial season finales of the sport, but Christian Horner claimed in an interview RacingNews365.com, that the energy drinks outfit’s owner Dietrich Mateschitz is unperturbed.

When asked if the topic bothered his boss, Horner said: “No. I think there’s been so much controversy throughout the year, [and] I think there’s been so much bad luck that we’ve had during the season that these things tend to balance themselves out.

“He felt Max was very deserving. He was very proud of what he’d done and what the team had achieved,” the Briton revealed.

Good luck, Bad luck, everyone got his fair share

Reflecting on the 2021 season, full of ups and downs, where lady luck was changing sides quite a few times between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen over the course of the 22 races, Horner is adamant that each of the title contenders had his fair share of both good and bad luck, balancing things out between the two, which makes all the noise about the safety car debacle in the season finale irrelevant.

“I think that it was such an epic year,” he said. “It was probably the most competitive season in Formula 1 in the last 30 years, and I think, for Red Bull, for Max, for Honda, to come out on top…

“Yes, we got a little bit lucky with the Safety Car at the end of the race, but so much bad luck [had] gone against us throughout the season.

“These things, I’ve always said, tend to balance themselves out over the course of a season, and I think Max, he led more than 50 percent of the laps in the year, more than every other driver combined,” the Red Bull boss pointed out.

“He had more pole positions, he had more race wins, and for me he was totally deserving,” Horner insisted.

Max Verstappen, became Red Bull’s second driver after Sebastian Vettel to win an F1 Drivers’ championship, with both drivers ascending through the team’s junior driver program overseen by Dr. Helmut Marko.

Verstappen will start his title defense in Bahrain’s 2022 season opener on March 20 in the yet-to-be-revealed Red Bull RB18.

Please follow and like our new Facebook page GrandPrix247Official.