Horner and Newey: 'Vettel was essential for Red Bull'

Red Bull have been around for almost 20 years and have seen several years of unprecedented success (2010-2013 World Champion with Sebastian Vettel, 2021-2022 with Max Verstappen). The team has been on the rise recently, but 2023 has yet to reveal whether this will continue. One thing remains clear: this success is down to the foundations laid years ago at the team, and this is what Christian Horner and Adrian Newey talk about in an exclusive Red Bull interview.

One of the ingredients for Red Bull's success is Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey. “How could we attract Adrian to join the Red Bull team?” wondered Horner in 2006. The engineer was working at McLaren. Horner said David Coulthard, Red Bull driver at the time, played a vital role in this. “[He] obviously worked with Adrian for many years at both Williams and McLaren."

Asked whether Newey did not think it was a risk to join such an inexperienced team, he replies, “Winning championships seemed a very distant dream at that point but just to try and win races - it was something that really intrigued me.”

Sebastian Vettel is also cited as a key element in the Austrian racing stable's early success. “Sebastian worked incredibly hard. He was incredibly dedicated, he was often the last guy in the engineering office at the end of a Friday or Saturday,” said the Red Bull team boss. Newey says the young German had a very methodical approach and worked incredibly hard - he wanted to learn from his mistakes.

“The team prepared to put in that extra mile because they saw [the] work and commitment that he was prepared to put in. That dedication helped us through an engineering side to make the car better,” the CTO said.

Sebastian Vettel is known to people as more than just a driver, he always put a lot of time into the technical side of his profession as well. Whether the German might return to Formula 1, but in a different role, remains a matter of speculation. In any case, from what Horner and Newey have said, his drive appears to be an ingredient for success.