Red Bull boss Christian Horner singles out rival as 'a big animal in Formula 1'

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner recently labeled one of his team's rivals as 'a big animal in Formula 1'. That animal is none other than the Italian giant Ferrari. The Prancing Horse is still the most successful team in the world with 16 Constructors' Championships, even though their last world title run was in 2008. Despite Mercedes being much more dominant in recent history, Horner still named Ferrari bigger than Silver Arrows.

Speaking about the pressures of being Ferrari's team principal, Christian Horner had words of support for Frederic Vasseur. The Red Bull boss claimed that the Italian team is so massive that it has the hopes and dreams of an entire nation, Italy, resting on its shoulders. He told Sky Sports:

“Ferrari is a different type of team. It’s a national team, and I think there’s a pressure that comes with that. There’s the Italian media, that are absolutely brutal and scrutinizes every single move, and there’s just a huge expectation.”

Later on, Horner praised Frederic Vasseur by saying that he is a racer at heart and is capable of controlling the 'big animal', which is Ferrari, in 2024 and beyond. He said:

“Fred’s a capable guy. He’s a racer, and Ferrari are a big animal in Formula 1, and the expectation will be very high on them next year.”

Red Bull ended the 2023 F1 season in top spot with a staggering 860 points, while Ferrari finished third by amassing 406 points.

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Red Bull team boss on how he pleaded Adrian Newey not to move to Ferrari

Red Bull had a spell of glory back in the early 2010s, when Sebastian Vettel and the team won four drivers' and constructors' championships back-to-back from 2010 to 2013. Following that, however, Vettel left the Austrian-British outfit for Ferrari, and aero wizard Adrian Newey was about to do the same.

While speaking on the Eff Won podcast last month, Horner revealed how he stopped Newey from joining the Prancing Horse in 2014. He said:

"We went from winning ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, four on the bounce, and then a massive regulation change to the engine and our engine supplier completely missed the target. At that point, Vettel leaves because of the engine, Adrian came very close to leaving, he was within about half an hour of signing [for Ferrari].

He added:

"I managed to persuade him to stay by saying: ‘We’ll do a road car. If you want to do a road car, we’ll do a road car. He said, ‘Well, how?’ – and I said I have no idea, but we’ll find a way. We’ll make it. We’ll make it happen. And that’s literally in a pub in England, that’s how it happened.”

Christian Horner managed to keep Adrian Newey, after which the technical director never left Red Bull. As of now, he continues to make extremely successful F1 cars for the team, which are bringing home loads of silverware, with Max Verstappen behind the wheel.