Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has said there is no guarantee for a repeat of form next year drawing Mercedes 2021 as an example.
While Mercedes have struggled to recover since 2021, Red Bull kept pace led by Horner and Verstappen.
Winning 13 out of 17 races in 2020, Red Bull finished second, a long way from the championship.
However, 2021 saw one of the closest battles F1 has ever seen. The Milton Keynes’ team was able to catch the Brackley outfit and beat them in the drivers world championship.
Since Abu Dhabi 2021, Red Bull have dominated both 2022 and 2023. Before Singapore 2023, Red Bull hadn’t lost a race win since Brazil 2022 in a 16 race-win streak.
The teams also began to focus on 2024 in the summer, miles before their closest rivals Mercedes or Ferrari.
Although this has created doubt Max Verstappen and his team can be caught, Horner has suggested it’s not that simple.
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He said: “We saw that in 2020 with Mercedes. If you remember, that was their most dominant year ever and yet, we were able to beat them in ’21.
“There is a subtle rule change but I think that nothing stands still. We’ve seen competitors coming closer at different venues and I’m sure concepts will converge.
“Stable regulations always concertina. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to repeat the season that we’ve had, but hopefully, we can take the lessons from RB19 and apply them to [RB]20 and come up with a car that we can defend these titles with.”
2021 regulation change vs 2024
2024 will see little change from this years regulations. With long debate if the FIA should punish domination in the rules, it will come short of the difference seen between 2020 and 2021.
2021 saw a heavy change in regulations, benefitting cars with higher rake designs. This means the diagonal car sits from the back to the front.
While teams like Mercedes ran a low rake, Red Bull ran a much higher incline. This strongly aided their charge to the front.
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Despite arguably put in to help close the gap to Mercedes, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has stated Red Bull should not be punished for their success.
He said: “It is [Verstappen’s] time, it’s Red Bull’s time. What do we do? Punish the good kid? No, let’s go and make the other teams good. Nobody’s stopping the other teams from being better. We cannot punish people for being better, for trying harder. That is unfair.”
“This car will go down in history certainly for a considerable period of time as the most successful car in Formula 1 history.”
Stopped from a perfect season by Ferrari, he noted he was not annoyed with the Maranello team.
He said: “No. It leaves you humbled that there is still something to strive for and it’s a useful lesson that things can change quickly.
“Singapore was a standout weekend. You guys have been asking me since about race three, ‘Do you think you can win all the races this year?’
“To win 21 out of the 22 races is insanity. For Max to have led over 1000 laps, for him to have won 19 races, to have broken McLaren’s record from ’88, to have broken Seb’s [Vettel] record from 2013 – the win ratios, all the percentages that he’s hit…
“This car will go down in history certainly for a considerable period of time as the most successful car in Formula 1 history.”
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