What Price On Stability?

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Australian GP.

    A precedent has been established in Formula One in 2023. Many will remember and still reminisce McLaren's dominating season in 1988 when Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost won the first 11 GP's on their way to winning 15 out of the total 16 races. Fast forward to 2023 going in to the mid season summer break, and Red Bull have claimed all the victory plaudits. All 12 GP's and the Sprints as well, leaving barely a crumb for their rivals, thus demoralising them in the process. Ten wins for reigning world champ Max Verstappen and two for team mate Sergio Perez. 
    Red Bull acquired the ailing Jaguar team in late 2004 and joined the grid in 2005. Once they enjoyed their first win in 2009, you could say that the floodgates have opened as Red Bull have become the fastest team ever to garner 100 victories in F1. Which got us contemplating the secrets of their success. Sure, they're funded largely by an energy drink world renown mega company taking the duress out of acquiring a budget. Sure, they have "the standard" in factory facilities. Sure, they now produce their own power unit in collaboration with Honda and soon with Ford. Sure, they have in their employ arguably the best designer in the business in Adrian Newey overseeing their design team. But has enough credit been afforded to team principal Christian Horner?
    Christian Horner was a competent racer who progressed to the then F1 feeder category, Formula 3000. Realising he'd reached his potential, moved into team management with his F3000 team, Arden. Wanting to move into F1, he looked into purchasing Jordan. When negotiations broke down, he was poached in late 2004 by the new Red Bull team to fulfil the role of team principal. He became the youngest ever F1 team principal at age 32, and quickly secured the expertise of the aforementioned Adrian Newey. They're both still there to this day.
    When Ferrari were dominating the championship 20 years ago with Michael Schumacher winning five driver's and the team six constructor's championships in a row, they had a wonderful team which included Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne and Paolo Martinelli. But it was team principal Jean Todt that deserves a massive amount of credit. Ferrari are an institution in Italy and the Italian media are relentless when Ferrari are underperforming. Jean Todt provided a buffer between the demanding media and the race team, allowing them to focus solely on racing. This is exactly what Christian Horner does at Red Bull. Whenever controversy ensues or conjecture surfaces, it's Christian Horner that fronts the media and deals with the tough interrogation. When rival teams raise allegations of car legality, it's Horner that goes into bat for Red Bull against them or with the governing body. You might say it's his job, but Horner often adopts the ethos of the best form of defense is attack, and happily shoulders the criticism. The race team can simply do what they're paid to do, race. When other teams are looking for band aid fixes by routinely changing personnel including team principals and upper management in a vain attempt to move to the front of the grid, Christian Horner has been at the helm of Red Bull since their inception. It's no wonder he's now the longest serving current team principal on the grid. Are we now entering another period of Red Bull dominance in F1? What price do you put on stability?
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