In 2024, Red Bull Racing marked its 20th participation in the Formula 1 World Championship by winning the Drivers’ title with Max Verstappen. For the Austrian team, it was their eighth success in the drivers’ standings, along with six victories in the Constructors’ Championship. These figures immediately make clear how the team, led by Chris Horner since its inception, has quickly carved out a leading role in the Circus, winning almost a third of the races it has participated in (122 out of 393, 31%). These impressive statistics are not explained solely by the large budget provided by the energy drinks multinational, but also by a unique mental approach capable of turning setbacks into lessons, emerging stronger than before.
Waché: “What Drives Us is the Hunger to Improve and Learn from Mistakes”
The topic was addressed by Red Bull’s Technical Director, Pierre Waché, in an interview with the German outlet Motorsport-Magazin. The French engineer explained: “We are a racing team, not a company. We’re not happy when we win, but we are unhappy when we lose. This is the difference. It’s nice to win, but what really drives us is the hunger to improve and learn from our mistakes.”
As an example of this ability, Pierre Wache recalled the early days of hybrid engines, when Red Bull transitioned from a four-year period of dominance – marked by Sebastian Vettel’s world titles – to a phase of difficulties, having to overcome a huge performance gap with Mercedes. This long chase began in 2014 and culminated with Max Verstappen’s victory in 2021 and the new period of dominance in F1, culminating in the near-perfect 2023 season: “You have to be resilient, everyone gives their best. Even if it doesn’t help you win in the end, it helps you progress. What we went through in this phase helped us win in 2022, 2023, and also in 2021. I’d say: the team grows even better in tough times.”
The Merits of Christian Horner and Adrian Newey in Creating a Winning Team
Two key figures have been part of Red Bull since its debut season in 2005: Team Principal Chris Horner and designer Adrian Newey, who this year bid farewell to the team, later accepting Lawrence Stroll’s generous offer to make Aston Martin a winning team as well. Waché, who joined Red Bull after the first wave of world championship successes, emphasized how the team’s winning mentality was shaped by this duo: “This team was built by Christian and Adrian around the mentality of a racing team. You have to recognize that they did a fantastic job with this.”
Red Bull started 2024 going through a really turbulent phase, with a scandal involving Horner that almost jeopardized the Team Principal, who ultimately remained firmly in his position and was cleared of the accusations against him. Waché highlighted how Horner is extremely skilled at keeping the team away from controversies and pressures: “Similar people and many details form a winning team. This also means that you have to accept defeat. When you’re in a tough phase, you have to see how to move forward. In this team, the team is never blamed. The way Christian protects the team from external factors is very positive for the factory and the team in general. You will never hear him say that the team is doing a terrible job because it didn’t get pole. He never says that, he protects us. Even if sometimes we do a terrible job, we know we can do better. But it helps to have a calm environment and be able to solve the problem internally. This helps you retain people and develop yourself.”
Another Key Factor: Max Verstappen’s Leadership
The 2024 season, which began in the same dominant manner as 2023, soon turned into a particularly challenging year for Red Bull, with the RB20 revealing issues that had previously been hidden by their clear superiority over rivals. Christian Horner recalled in an interview with Autosport: “It almost seemed like something had radically changed. Suddenly, three other teams became competitive, and we began to encounter some problems that became very limiting.”
Amid this storm, the third key figure at Red Bull emerged: Max Verstappen. The Dutchman, who has been racing with the Austrian team for nine seasons, seems to have fully absorbed the team’s winning mentality and, in 2024, literally dragged it through the crisis, something Sergio Perez failed to do, even losing his seat for 2025, despite a contract already signed as recently as late spring.
Christian Horner added: “Max never panicked. Even on tough days, he spent long hours with the engineers, rolling up his sleeves and working hard. Working behind the scenes on the simulator, spending time with the aerodynamicists, simply saying: ‘OK, this is where you need to focus, this is where the key issue is with this,’ based on what he was feeling. This is where Max was hugely impressive this year: the leadership he inspired from within the car for the direction we had to take to address some of the issues.”
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