Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner asserts that his team is determined to win the 2021 Formula 1 Championship in a non-controversial manner.
Just one race remains in the 2021 campaign, with Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton heading to the Abu Dhabi finale this weekend tied on points.
The duo had another on-track collision on Sunday at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with Verstappen being dealt a 10-second time penalty for the incident.
The clash was just one of several flashpoints the two have had this season.
Horner says that Red Bull is wary of how it settles the 2021 championship, affirming it doesn’t want it to end in any other way than on the circuit.
“You want to win it on the track, not in the stewards’ room, not in the gravel trap,” he said.
“It’s been a tough fight all through the year. There’s been some fantastic racing between these two drivers and I hope that it’s a fair and clean race in Abu Dhabi.”
The title-decider in Abu Dhabi marks the first time in the turbo-hybrid era that Mercedes has been challenged all the way to the final race of the campaign by another team.
However, momentum appears to be with the Brackley-based squad, who has taken victory at the last three grands prix.
Regardless, Horner says that raising morale within the Red Bull camp will not be an issue ahead of the last race on the calendar.
“We’re going to Abu Dhabi equal on points but leading by virtue of the number of wins,” he commented. “Who would have thought at the beginning of the year?
“If you had given us this chance of one shot to win this championship in Abu Dhabi at the last race after 21 races of intense battle with Mercedes, I think we’d have all as a team absolutely bitten your arm off for that.
“I think you guys probably would have as well, based on the dominance that we’ve seen in the last seven years.”
“There will be no problem in raising morale going into this final weekend. We’ve actually come out of [Saudi Arabia] with a second place.
“We managed to get ourselves into a lead, lead large percentage of the race once again but lady luck is shining on Lewis at the moment.”
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