Christian Horner on the moment he knew Max Verstappen would see off Sergio Perez’s challenge

Beating Sergio Perez to the Miami GP win despite coming from ninth on the grid to his team-mate’s P1, Christian Horner says that’s the moment he realised Max Verstappen would win the title.

Already apparent in pre-season testing that Red Bull had a race winner on their hands in the RB19, little did anyone know back then the success that awaited the team and Verstappen.

Trading blows with Perez in the opening four races, the team-mates winning two apiece, it was anyone’s guess after Azerbaijan who would take the title as they were separated by a mere six points.

Christian Horner knew a Max Verstappen title ‘was coming’ in Miami

One race later, though, Horner says Red Bull knew a third Verstappen title was coming.

That weekend in Miami Perez qualified on pole position with Verstappen only ninth on the grid after he aborted his run having made a mistake through Turn 8. His second attempt was negated by a red flag when Charles Leclerc crashed.

Despite starting well behind his team-mate, Verstappen put in an epic drive as he stormed through the field before swooping past Perez to take the victory by five seconds ahead of the Mexican driver.

That sparked a run of 10 successive race wins with Verstappen going on to officially secure the title with a P2 in Qatar’s Sprint race.

But is in Miami that Horner knew it “was coming”.

“Achieving a title is the most magical feeling as a team and you have to celebrate it,” the Red Bull team boss said at the Lusail circuit.

“I think we’ve known this was coming from about the fourth or fifth race. I think from Miami that was such a massive turning point for Max,” he said. “That then run of domination with 10 victories in a row.

“It’s been the most outstanding, unbelievable season.

“To see him now join names in the history of the sport like Jack Brabham, like Niki Lauda, like Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet, Sir Jackie Stewart, there are some massive names. And Max Verstappen now joins that list of very illustrious drivers that form an exclusive club in the history of the sport.”

For Horner Verstappen’s dominance on his way to titles number two and three, the Dutchman unchallenged in 2022 and again in 2023, has been a welcome relief after the stress of his driver’s first title in 2021.

That season Verstappen went wheel-to-wheel with Lewis Hamilton with the title decided on the very last lap of the season in Abu Dhabi.

“It’s been a lot less stressful,” Horner said of 2022 and 23’s success. “So Abu Dhabi was obviously insane a couple of years ago, but the last couple of years have just been out of this world in terms of the level that the team has been operating, the way that Max has been driving.

“And of course, the amount of races that he’s won. He’s been absolutely dominant. Not just this year, but for the last couple of years.”

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Ominously, Horner has warned Verstappen won’t let up just because he has the title in the bag.

“He doesn’t want to leave anything on the table,” he said. “He is an out and out racer and there are five races left. I’m sure he wants to win all of them.

“He’s nearly matched what he achieved last year in terms of race wins, 16 victories for us out of 17 wins this year.

“Pole Position, fastest lap, race victory for him again, second in the sprint race. I mean, he’s just having the most unbelievable year that you could ever imagine.”

While Verstappen has secured the title, Perez is battling to hold onto second place with the Mexican driver losing ground to Lewis Hamilton who is now just 30 points off the pace.

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