Horner worried ex-Red Bull chief could return to haunt them with new team

08 January 2024 , 20:40

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Christian Horner lost one of his top Red Bull lieutenants last year (Image: Getty Images)

Christian Horner admits long-time colleague Rob Marshall could help propel new employer McLaren into a title challenge against his Red Bull team.

Like Horner, Marshall was part of the furniture in Milton Keynes having worked for the team for 17 years. But, in search of a fresh challenge, he departed last year having agreed to join McLaren.

He left Red Bull last May and spent the rest of 2023 on gardening leave, as is common in the Formula 1 world. He officially started his new job in Woking as the McLaren's technical director of engineering and design.

Having worked with Marshall for so long, team principal Horner is aware of the talent and expertise he possesses. And he is also wary that his former colleague is joining a McLaren team which is very much on the rise.

After a slow start to 2023, they were probably Red Bull's closest challengers in the second half of the season. And, with the addition of Marshall, Horner is wary of a potential challenge from the Woking-based squad over the next 12 months.

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"I think McLaren had a great second half of the year," the Red Bull chief told Sky Sports. "There were times when they were our closest competitor. They have strengthened their team and Rob will be an asset, but it's not just about one person.

"There are seven or eight hundred people in an F1 team and it needs the whole team to come together. With Lando [Norris] and Oscar [Piastri] - who was really impressive as a debutant - they could well be a factor next year."

Red Bull's dominance last year meant they got a significant head-start on their rivals in terms of developing their new car for the upcoming 2024 campaign. Despite that, Horner insists he expects the field to close going forward with his Red Bull team closer to the performance ceiling of the current regulations than their competitors.

He said: "I'm fully expecting - with stable regs and diminishing returns for us because I think we got to the top of the curve quicker than others - the field is going to converge. There's always a reset as you go into the following year, and I'm convinced that you'll see a lot more cars that perhaps look like an RB19 philosophy.

"If you stand still in this business, you tend to be going backwards. And I think that we have got up that curve quicker than others. But we're into a law of diminishing returns."

Daniel Moxon