Criticism doesn't affect Verstappen says Horner: 'That goes past him'

Christian Horner has commented on the situation in Ukraine on BBC Breakfast, and the Red Bull Racing team boss also looked back one last time at the finale of the 2021 Formula One season.

The fact that Russia has invaded Ukraine is keeping the whole world busy. Formula 1 is also watching what is happening in the East and has already taken several measures. For example, Russian teams and drivers are only allowed to compete under a neutral flag. However, the only Russian F1 driver Nikita Mazepin was pushed aside by Haas, as was his sponsor Uralkali.

The war in Ukraine

"It's shocking to see what's happening in the world. Sport is almost irrelevant at a time when you see it. F1 and all the teams have a strong position, when we were last together about 10 days ago, we said right okay we need to take a firm position on this. The Russian GP has been cancelled, contracts torn up. The team that had a Russian sponsor and driver, said they would remove the driver. It's very difficult," the Briton said on the BBC's morning program.

However, as team boss of the reigning world champion, Max Verstappen, it doesn't take long for the topic of conversation to turn back to Formula One. The Brit looks back on a season in which his team had a lot of bad luck, but still managed to grab the title with Verstappen in the final stages. However, Horner continues to emphasize that Red Bull did the tyre change itself and Verstappen had to do the overtaking.

Criticism of Verstappen's title

After the race there was a lot of criticism about how the race had gone, but according to Horner, Verstappen didn't lose any sleep over it. "It's gone over his head, he doesn't watch the BBC," Horner jokes. "He was delighted to get that first world championship against such a strong opponent. Lewis Hamilton, the most successful driver of all time, that is what made it so intense."

In 2022, the title fight between the two bantams of Red Bull and Mercedes may get a continuation, although it remains to be seen whether those teams will have a competitive car again in 2022. "The rivalry with those two has been so intense, you might get a couple of other drivers come in as well. The following in the sport has gone exponential over the last season and that's great to see," the team boss concluded.