Red Bull and Mercedes have shared a strained rivalry over the past decade with the former currently coming out on top.
Christian Horner has praised Lewis Hamilton’s handling of the post-race scenes at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, detailing an off-camera handshake between the pair in the cooldown room before the podium.
Hamilton was on course for his record-breaking eighth World Championship in Abu Dhabi that evening before a late safety car handed the title to Max Verstappen in controversial circumstances on the final lap of the race.
Despite the outrage from his team and fanbase, the legendary British driver remained measured and civilised after the chequered flag, shaking hands with his title rival Verstappen and standing on the podium for the post-race ceremony.
Discussing the class with which Hamilton handled the aftermath of the Abu Dhabi controversy, Horner told Sky Sports: “I felt the way that Lewis handled that disappointment after the race, hats off to him. Because he would have been even more disappointed.
Breaking records The World Championship has recently ceased, but he conducted himself with honor and decency. After the race, when I shook hands with him in the driver’s room, he graciously said, “Well done.”
Horner has a great deal of empathy for Hamilton’s Abu Dhabi experience, but he had nothing but contempt for Mercedes’ strategists, whom he held responsible for forcing the seven-time world champion to finish the race on worn-out, hard-compound tires, leaving him vulnerable to a late safety car.
“A lot is made about the final lap,” he continued. “But Mercedes went into that race and they were quicker than us. In the Grand Prix, Lewis was able to manage the gap to Max pretty comfortably but then they went very defensive, they went very conservative.
“They left Lewis out on a set of tyres that were 43 laps old so he was only ever a Safety Car [away from being] hugely exposed. I think in being defensive, they exposed themselves to the situation that unfolded.”
Sadly for Mercedes and Hamilton, the 39-year-old hasn’t won since leading domestic teammate Valtteri Bottas across the finish line at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in the penultimate round of the 2021 season.
Toto Wolff, the team principal, and Hamilton felt that the W13 and W14 were disappointments, but the Silver Arrows have changed their design philosophy for their 2024 opponent.
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