The 2023 Austrian Grand Prix took place this past weekend and once again the winning team turned out to be Red Bull Racing. Max Verstappen drove his RB19 to victory after having a perfect weekend.
The Dutch driver dominated the first and only free practice session of the weekend, taking pole position for Sunday’s race, also doing it on Saturday morning to start in P1 for the afternoon’s sprint race, managing to take first place in the sprint race. His teammate, Sergio Perez, finished in second position but more than 21 seconds behind the Dutchman, as the team got the maximum 15 points available from Saturday.
And finally, Verstappen also took victory in the main race on Sunday. The two-time world champion had such an advantage that he even took the luxury of pitting in the last few laps to also take the extra point for the fastest lap of the race. Sergio Pérez came through from 15th to finish P3.
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Christian Horner, who serves as Red Bull Racing’s team principal, has commented that the job is not done, and they want to keep this streak going for as many races as possible. “We’re grateful for every victory that we have. This is our best run of in-season results since I think Sebastian Vettel in 2013. Now won nine races in a row in a season. I think it matches the record.
“We obviously want to keep this role going as long as we can but how long? Only time will tell.
“I think the team’s operating at an incredible level. But it only takes a bit of weather or bad luck or a puncture to, you know, things can turn around pretty quickly. So, we just gotta stay at the top of our game and see how long we can keep this run rolling forward. We’ll go to Silverstone with confidence,” Horner stated. “But we’re also acutely aware that it’s very easy to drop a ball and very easy for, you know, variables to come in that is sometimes beyond your control.”
“What’s been impressive this weekend is throughout all the conditions, we’ve stayed on top of them, and executed a really good Grand Prix.”
Horner knows that the success that Red Bull has had throughout the 2023 Formula 1 season is thanks to all the people who are at the circuit and also back at the factory back in Milton Keynes. Probably the people who are always involved in the credit given to the team for its success are the two drivers, in this case Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, but Horner has expressed that the credit has to go to all departments of the team.
“I think we’re operating at the highest level this team has seen in our 19-year history. I think it’s just every single department. I mean, to achieve results like today, it’s not just about the race team, it’s about all the activity that goes on behind the scenes in the factory from an operations point of view, manufacturing, research, development, reliability,” Horner commented. “There’s all the support functions, the roles that they play from IT to recruitment. It’s all of those aspects that have to come together,” the British team principal added.
“And you have to work as a team, as one team.”
