Horner disagrees with Hamilton’s domination claim: ‘It will become closer'

Red Bull have won 19 of the 20 races in F1 2023, with Max Verstappen winning 17 of them.

The team has remained mostly unchallenged despite a resurgence from McLaren in recent months.

Even though things are slowly closing up at the front, Hamilton is unsure anyone will be able to topple them in the next couple of years given the stable technical regulations.

Hamilton said in Sao Paulo: “I think, ultimately, all I can do is try to remain optimistic.  

“The Red Bull I think is so far away. I think they're probably going to be very clear for the next couple of years.” 

Horner believes things will continue to “become closer” due to Red Bull ultimately reaching diminishing returns with their car concept.

“It's always difficult to read too much into those things,” he said. “I think that it's a lot of world championships that are won in the windtunnel numbers at this time of year.  

“I think that we've got a great car, we've got a great basis. We need to keep evolving it, but of course, the returns are going to diminish because you're hitting the top of the curve.  

“And you can see it will concertina. It will become closer and that will stretch us more, for sure. But the team are very, very motivated. 

“You can see nobody's let off since we won the championship. Everybody's still fully on it.”