“Cheap Targets” Accusation Exposes Red Bull Chief Christian Horner to Scathing Backlash: “It’s Personal”

Red Bull finally managed to attain glory in F1 after a hiatus of 8 years in 2021. Although, this glory has not come without the ugly pain of criticism from the F1 community. Many detested their 2022 dominance. But the overall narrative has been different. Despite Max Verstappen winning two world titles, many have criticized the team about the budget cap controversy and the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP events.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner tried to shut down this criticism, saying how his team becomes a “cheap target” sometimes. Though former F1 winner David Coulthard has a different opinion. Speaking to Mirror Sport, Coulthard expressed how Horner and Red Bull should accept to live with this criticism.

He said, “Obviously, Red Bull and Christian are going to be sensitive to any criticism of what they do, because it’s personal. When it comes to the media, they all have the right to interpret the scenario and events based on their particular vantage point.”

Coulthard, a 13-time race winner; cited how the dominant winning teams often receive hate and criticism. He also spoke about how McLaren and Mercedes suffered from a lot of critics when they dominated F1.

So, the F1 veteran might be advising the Red Bull Chief to brace for the scathing backlash. Given the way RBR has been dominating, this backlash might be here to stay.

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As David said, the Milton Keynes outfit ain’t the first team to get criticism as a dominating champion team. There have been several teams in the past that blew the competition away in F1 and many called out how they made the sport allegedly boring.

The Criticism against Dominant streaks of F1 teams ft. Red Bull & Mercedes

It was just a decade back when Red Bull’s 4 consecutive titles made F1 a one-horse race at times. Despite 2 tight seasons in 2010 and 2012; fans were longing for a different champion due to Sebastian Vettel and RBR dominating the 4 years.

Vettel and his team faced a lot of backlash as he smashed records on wins and championships year by year. There used to booing from fans and even fellow drivers cited how boring this period of RBR’s dominance became.

Although, this was just half a glimpse of what Mercedes had to offer come 2014. The manner in which they swept through 8 consecutive constructors championships at a canter was remarkable. But, again, many cited this dominance as boring to watch. Like Max Verstappen did in 2022, Lewis Hamilton was winning races every weekend.

If we look into the past, Ferrari’s winning streak in the early 2000s was another one of those dominant periods. It ain’t easy to make a car that can go half a second quicker than anybody else, but people love to see competition. Though Ferrari and Michael Schumacher also had some critics, they might have been saved from the wrath of social media.

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Nevertheless, if Red Bull is looking to once again assert their domination in this new F1 era, they will have to brace themselves for the critics. It has become a part of the sport now and this isn’t their first time facing backlash. What do you think of the criticism against Red Bull?