Horner: "You can never give up"

Christian Horner outlined what he expects from Max Verstappen this weekend in Friday's press conference between the first and second free practice sessions for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. According to the Red Bull Racing team boss, his pupil should not do as much differently as he has done for the rest of 2021.

Horner said in the presence of Motorsport-Magazin.com among others, that the most important thing for Verstappen is to enjoy himself and do the same as the 21 weekends before."He needs to do exactly what has got him to this point and to nine wins. He has driven phenomenally, especially in the second half of the season when we didn't have the fastest car." According to the top man, the 24-year-old Limburger single-handedly kept Red Bull in the championship at that point.

Still, at first glance in the constructors' championship, there doesn't seem to be anyone that much to gain for the Milton Keynes-based racing stable. Mercedes are 28 points ahead and so the gap seems unbridgeable. Still Red Bull doesn't want to throw in the towel, because they know that stranger things have happened in Formula 1 in the past.

Vettel as example for Red Bull

"Sergio's retirement last weekend hurt. Something has to go wrong at Mercedes for them not to conquer this [the title]. But anything can happen, you can never give up. We learned that in 2010," Horner said. At the time Red Bull were competing with Sebastian Vettel for the drivers' championship and narrowly missed out on Fernando Alonso.