Red Bull boss Christian Horner deserves “credit” for how he handled the problems that he experienced during the 2024 Formula 1 season, according to Guenther Steiner.
Horner endured a myriad of complications throughout the previous year, including the loss of several key staff at the Red Bull team he has overseen since its inception.
The most notable names to depart were technical guru Adrian Newey to Aston Martin and long-time Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley to head the Sauber/Audi venture.
The team also endured, by their standards, a difficult campaign, with Max Verstappen struggling to a fourth straight World Championship with an uncompetitive car, which proved to be too big an ask for team-mate Sergio Perez, who was ousted by the team after the final race in Abu Dhabi.
The 51-year-old also was the subject of an internal investigation by the Milton Keynes outfit prior to the start of the season after allegations of inappropriate behaviour were made by a former colleague.
Steiner, who worked with Horner as Red Bull’s technical operations director in 2005, told GPBlog that people had “underestimated” his year.
“I think he will remember the ’24 year as [the] pretty s**ttiest year of his life, you know, with all the stuff which happened, and so we have to give to him credit,” he said.
“He always stood up for it.
“We don’t even talk about the beginning of the year, his private stuff, but then going into it, it’s pretty clear, they had that one driver in the team.
“They couldn’t defend the Constructors’ World Championship, because they had only one car.”
“They were fighting a McLaren with two very good drivers. And I’m not saying that Checo [Perez] is not a good driver, but he wasn’t last year. We have to say that one.
“In the past he was a good driver, he won races, but last year, he underperformed. In the end, they were faced with dealing with it, but obviously it was a bad year keeping the team together.”
Replacing long-standing Red Bull staff ‘will be difficult’
Steiner has acknowledged that hiring new people will potentially bring a new lease of life to the team, but he has warned that the right personnel will be a big task.
“Obviously, they lost some people,” he added.
“They lost Adrian [Newey], they lost Jonathan [Wheatley], they’re going to lose the strategy engineer Will Courtenay [to McLaren], which are all very good people.
“And as much as Red Bull has got a good second line, these people are there a long time.”
“They know the ins and outs, and sometimes having new blood in is good, but you need something – replacing an Adrian, it will be difficult.
“But only time will tell what Christian can make out of it, but I think it is not getting any easier for him in the moment.”
READ MORE – Adrian Newey could see Red Bull difficulties coming before exit
