Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has collected their constructors’ championship trophy and dedicated their success to the company’s late co-founder.
Dietrich Mateschitz, who launched the Red Bull soft drink in the eighties and poured money into motorsport in order to market it, passed away on the eve of the United States Grand Prix, when his team clinched the title for the fifth time in their history.
Red Bull ended Mercedes’ run of eight consecutive wins by taking the title for the first time since 2013. The trophy was presented to Horner by Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem at the FIA Gala in Bologna.
After collecting the trophy, Horner dedicated the team’s victory to Mateschitz, pointing out how many drivers featured during the FIA’s end-of-season ceremony had been backed by Red Bull.
“What I would like to say tonight is that I’ve watched a lot of videos and I think on all of those videos across all of these different championships, we’ve seen the Red Bull logo on so many cars in so many championships,” said Horner. “And I’d like to dedicate this this championship, this trophy, to a very special man that has done so much for motorsports and done so much for Formula 1.
“He was a fan of motorsport, foremost and utmost. He gave so many drivers in the room tonight an opportunity in so many categories. He gave thousands of engineers and technicians, mechanics and I think arguably has done more for motorsport than any other person in history. So tonight, I’d like to dedicate this to to Dietrich Mateschitz.”
Max Verstappen won the drivers’ championship – the sixth time a Red Bull driver has claimed it – less than two weeks before Mateschitz’s death.
“Thankfully he saw Max win the championship in Japan, even though there was a bit of confusion over the points there, but thankfully, Max won it early and he saw it,” Horner added. “And then the next weekend, the day after he passed, we managed to win this trophy. So it’s it’s a very special one.”
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The brief presentation included two awkward exchanges between Horner and Ben Sulayem regarding the Japanese race and Red Bull’s breach of the 2021 cost cap.
Verstappen initially did not realise he had won the championship at Suzuka as the FIA was widely expected not to award full points for the shortened Japanese race, which ran to slightly more than half distance. However an unforeseen quirk of the rules, which had been rewritten for the 2022 season, meant the competitors did score full points and a disbelieving Verstappen was eventually persuaded he had clinched the title.
Ben Sulayem insisted the error had not been on the FIA’s part, pointing out the F1 teams requested a change to the rules following criticism of the decision to give drivers half-points for last year’s Belgian Grand Prix, where only a single lap was officially completed behind the Safety Car.
“Japan, you said, was controversial,” Ben Sulayem told Horner after he finished his remarks. “No. The FIA was blamed for the points but it was not the FIA which made the rules. It was the teams who made the rules and we were implementing it.”
At this point Domenicali interjected, telling the pair: “Okay guys, let’s stay focused.”
Earlier in the ceremony the FIA president also jokingly referred to the budget cap breach Red Bull were penalised for in October. The team was fined £6 million ($7m) for over-spending during the 2021 season and had its aerodynamic testing allocation reduced.
As Horner received the trophy Ben Sulayem told him, “Christian, this cup has nothing to do with the cost cap. This is from the FIA so we are not going to deduct it from your cost cap.”
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