Christian Horner opens up on Abu Dhabi 2021 F1 controversy

Former Red Bull F1 boss Christian Horner has revealed his side of the controversial 2021 title fight between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, where tensions overflowed both on and off the track.

Horner openly discussed what went on in 2021 while promoting his new book ahead of the United States Grand Prix.

Christian Horner reopens F1 2021 wounds

The 2021 F1 season was arguably the most dramatic and controversial in the championship’s history.

Across the year, Verstappen and Hamilton clashed repeatedly, resulting in several sizeable shunts on the track, while Horner and his Mercedes opposite number Toto Wolff butted heads in the paddock.

“You’re fighting as hard as you can for your team, and it only became apparent to me at Barcelona that year that when they started to broadcast the communications with the race director, that Toto had been speaking directly to Michael Masi,” Horner told the High Performance podcast.

“[I thought], hang on, that’s not on. You’re putting pressure on the referee here. So I was like to our team manager, ‘Right. Get me a line’.

“I never spoke to Charlie Whiting in 15 years that he was there; it was always through the team manager, and so then you start. Of course, if you can put pressure on and defend your position, and so that was ratcheting up through that year.”

Referencing flashpoints in Silverstone, Budapest and Monza, Horner turned his attention to the Abu Dhabi finale, which saw Verstappen take the crown on the final lap, following a safety car restart where only certain drivers had been allowed to unlap themselves.

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“Lewis was the faster car on the day,” Horner conceded. “He was driving away from Max, and for 80 percent of the race.

“I’m thinking, what am I going to tell the crew? How am I going to lift this team up? Not only have we lost the constructors, but we’re going to lose the drivers at last knockings.

“We’ve put everything into this, and Sergio [Perez] drove an amazing race, and as a teammate, brought Max back into play to put Mercedes under that pressure of do they don’t they.

“And then, of course, Nicholas Latifi has his crash, and you know it’s going to be a safety car from us at that point.

“We had nothing to lose by taking the stop. Mercedes had that awkward decision: stick or pit, and they chose to stick on the assumption that the race might not get going, which seemed at that juncture in time very much a risk in itself because it didn’t look that big of an accident, and there was an escape road nearby.

“Then, of course, the race director then says that there’s going to be no unlapped cars, and then he changes his mind.

“We’re pushing hard that this is not the way to finish a championship, and there was more than enough time to unlap all of the cars.

“He made the decision, which was within his remit, as per the regulations, but it had never been done before, to just allow the cars between Max and Lewis to unlap.”

Christian Horner accepts Lewis Hamilton fans ‘feel robbed’

Verstappen’s last lap pass had significant consequences for F1, with Hamilton having seemed destined to become the first eight-time champion for much of the race, an achievement that would have moved him clear of Michael Schumacher.

Conceding that “any Lewis Hamilton fan is feeling absolutely robbed,” Horner reflected that the then-Mercedes driver’s reaction to the disappointment of the moment created a newfound level of respect.

“I have to say full credit to Lewis though afterwards because in what must have been a horrendous moment to him, he held it together,” Horner said.

“He shook Max’s hand, he shook my hand, he congratulated us. And his father [did the same], at what must have been an incredibly difficult moment for him.

“So my respect for him elevated at that point in time.

“Then, of course, you’re then into a discussion with stewards and barristers and whatever else. But it’s inevitable that that created a narrative, and of course, it’s very easy for the people that feel wronged to lean into that and also build a narrative.”

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