Horner likens Mercedes F1 dominance to a prison sentence

Mercedes crushed their opposition for much of the sport’s V6 turbo hybrid era, racking up an unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' world championships and seven straight drivers’ titles between 2014 and 2021. 

The German manufacturer’s period of sustained success was finally brought to an end in 2021 when Max Verstappen pipped Lewis Hamilton to the world title in a controversial finale in Abu Dhabi. 

Since then, Red Bull have enjoyed their own period of dominance and are on course to win the drivers’ title for a third successive season, as well as successfully defending their constructors’ championship crown.

"Seven long years, that's a long time. You get less for crimes!" Horner told ESPN’s Unlapped podcast. 

"We had to wait to get back into a competitive position. We had to do a lot of watching of a lot of Mercedes winning. But we never lost sight of our target, we were still winning races every single year at circuits we could excel at.

"We never lost that target, it was just about putting the missing pieces into place. Then once we got a competitive power unit, we were able to go toe to toe with Mercedes.

“So, they were lucky they had it easy those years when we were running one-legged.”

Horner added: "[Those years] were hugely important, because they galvanised the team. We came off a winning streak and suddenly we had no chance.

"We were turning up at races and had no chance of success. I think that tested the team in many respects, it would have been very easy for a lot of people to have left the team at that point.

"The races we won we had to scrap hard for, we had to be super sharp because we were running with a handicap, effectively. If you look at the races we won in those years, many of them were opportunistic wins or wins at circuits where power didn't play a pivotal focus.

"I think 2021 was probably the most epic season in the history of the sport. But we were ready for that challenge, we were battle hardened from those intervening years.”

Red Bull have set a new record for most consecutive wins - surpassing McLaren’s tally of 12 straight wins from 1988 - in 2023, with their latest triumph at the Belgian Grand Prix marking their 13th victory in a row. 

"We could never have imagined in our wildest dreams that we're heading into summer break unbeaten in both Grand Prix and Sprint races," Horner said. 

"[During pre-season testing] in February, we knew we had a good car, but we expected Ferrari to build on last year and we expected Mercedes to be there also.

"It completely took us by surprise how competitive we were compared to our opponents."