2024 Formula 1: Who are the drivers and team principal for Red Bull F1?

Red Bull dominated the 2023 Formula 1 season, winning the constructors’ championship with six races to spare, and Max Verstappen won the drivers’ championship comfortably. They won 21 races, the highest number for a single season, with a winning percentage of 95.45%. In addition, they set a new record by winning 14 consecutive races in 2023, surpassing McLaren’s 11-in-a-row achievement in 1988. The team also led more laps than any other team in a single season, with over 1,000 of those laps led by Max Verstappen, a three-time world champion. On average, Red Bull had some of the fastest pit stops of the year. He showed superior reliability, with the only DNFs coming from Sergio Pérez’s crashes in Japan and Mexico City.

Looking ahead to the future, team principal Christian Horner is optimistic about the team’s prospects for the upcoming season. He notes that Verstappen is brimming with confidence as they begin the year, and Perez continues to improve and progress with the team.

Christian Horner

Horner has been with Red Bull since 2005 he became the youngest team principal. He had been a race car driver, competing in British Formula Three, British Formula Two, and Formula 3000, where he founded the Arden team.

He retired from race car driving at 25 and began focusing on team management at Arden. The team succeeded in F3000 until the competition’s final season in 2004, winning both the drivers’ and constructors’ championship titles.

Horner looked for and found the opportunity to join Formula 1 in 2005 when Red Bull bought the Jaguar F1 team, which was renamed Red Bull Racing. He delivered results early on, ending his first year with 34 points compared to the nine collected by Jaguar the year prior.

Since then, the British manager has brought much success to the team, which has amassed five constructors’ championships and six drivers’ world titles.

Max Verstappen

Verstappen is the current driver’s world champion and is on track to win his fourth consecutive title. The 25-year-old is the son of Formula 1 driver Jos Verstappen and comPetitive karting driver Sophie Kumpen. Having racing blood in his veins, he achieved success early on in karting and single-seater categories, winning races and setting records.

He competed in his first Formula 1 race with Scuderia Toro Rosso, Red Bull’s second team, at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix when he was only 17. He became the youngest driver to race in F1- so young that he didn’t even get his driver’s license until after one season of competing in Formula 1 when he finally turned 18.

In 2016, the same year he could legally drive on the road, he moved to the parent team, Red Bull Racing, and won his first Grand Prix in Spain. He became the youngest-ever driver to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

The Dutch driver has been on the rise since then, with 54 victories, 98 podiums, 32 pole positions, and three World Championship titles tucked firmly under his belt.

Checo Perez

Perez has driven for Red Bull since the 2021 season. Before then, he had stints with Sauber, McLaren, Force India, and Racing Point. He began competing with Sauber in 2011 and achieved his first podium finish at the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix, landing in second place behind Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.

The 33-year-old won his first Grand Prix with Racing Point at the 2020 Sakhir GP, where he set the record for the most number of starts before winning a race at 190.

Perez’s F1 career became even more fruitful when he joined Red Bull. In his first season with the team, he won the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. He clinched his first pole position at the 2022 Saudi Arabian GP, setting another record for joining the biggest number of races before a first pole position at 215. He scored his third and fourth Grand Prix victories in Monaco and Singapore two years ago.

As for Sergio Perez, on paper, his season was a success. He finished second in the championship and achieved that for the first time in Red Bull’s history - but in reality, it was a failure. He finished 290 points behind Verstappen, five more than his tally of 285. His trudge around Europe after realizing the title dream was over after being passed in Miami for the win was painful - as was his ‘try to win at the first corner in Mexico City.’ He’s in the seat for 2024, but beyond that, unless there is a drastic improvement, his stay will end.