“Hunted” Max Verstappen Warned of Lewis Hamilton & Charles Leclerc Target on His Back Ahead of 2023 Season

Max Verstappen had a lonesome 2022 on the racing track. No matter where he started his race, he would move up the order to take the top place on the podium. 15 wins of 22 races is a record in itself. The world was left in awe of the synergy of Verstappen and Newey’s creation. However, being at the top step is not an easy one. Red Bull boss Christian Horner knows that heavy is the head that wears the crown.

The winners getting less wind tunnel time than their closest contenders may make it a closely fought-battle in 2023. Drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, from rival teams, will obviously be out for blood raising the bar for the Dutch Lion and his team.

During Red Bull’s livery launch in New York, Christian Horner told Sky Sports, “We go from being the hunters to the hunted now. We go into the season with No. 1 on the car as the defending world drivers’ and constructors’ champions.”

The proud team principal didn’t fail to highlight their dominance from last year. He said, “The year we had last year: 17 Grand Prix victories out of 22, two out of the three sprint races. It was a dream season, and it will be difficult to top.”

Read More: Bitter “Truth” Bomb Dropped on Sergio Perez as Max Verstappen Continues to Wreak Havoc in the Mexican’s Life

It is difficult to be teammates with the champion. Where you are constantly compared to the one driving and winning in the same car as you and even at times are asked to play them team game. But for Sergio Perez, the team game was publicly denied.

Christian Horner addressed the Max Verstappen-Sergio Perez situation in Brazil

Max Verstappen was crowned the champion even before the final race began. Now it was time for the Red Bull team as a whole to focus on securing second place with Sergio Perez. The moment of truth arrived when, during Sao Paulo GP, Max refused to give up his non-podium spot in favor of his teammate. However, recently, the team went ahead to shoulder the blame for the public fiasco.

Horner told Sky why the incident took place. He said, I think that was a mistake on our part, that we should have thought through or tried to think through every single scenario.”As a team we didn’t discuss it and come up with a very clear plan.

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The reigning champions will set out to defend their throne in less than a month’s time. Do you think they can do it?