Christian Horner forecasts a tight 2025 F1 season, with Red Bull and rivals vying for supremacy.
Christian Horner expects the current top four teams—Red Bull, where he serves as director, along with McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes F1—to all be title contenders next year. The Briton is unsurprised, as performance convergence in Formula 1 is inevitable, and modern regulations encourage it.
“With four teams fighting, I think it’s good for the sport, and it was almost inevitable when you get consistency in regulations, you always get convergence,” Horner stated.
“If you look at the history of Formula 1, I remember when I came into Formula 1, Ron Dennis was the benchmark. He had the best car at McLaren at the time, but convergence has always brought the teams together.”
“Of course, we have a major regulation change in 2026 that will lead to divergence. But until then, I think that over the next 18 months, the four teams will be fighting on equal terms.”
This modern regulation is also what he sees as the cause of Red Bull’s declining performance, and he expects this to continue: “Inevitably, you reach the top of the curve, and we have less wind tunnel time than anyone because of the ATR system, and that’s how it should be.”
“Convergence will continue throughout next year. I think everyone is getting closer to the top of the curve. One week it’s Mercedes, another week it’s McLaren, another week it’s Red Bull. Ferrari hasn’t shown up for a while, so it keeps moving.”
Red Bull was “very dominant” in qualifying at Spa
Yet Red Bull is not out of the fight, and the work on this season’s RB20 will serve in 2025: “The whole team continues to work hard on this car. With stable regulations, everything we’re learning now is anyway useful for next year.”
“If you think about the first part of the year, we’ve come more than halfway. We’ve won seven Grand Prix. We’ve won two or three Sprints. We are leading both championships, but in recent weeks, our lead in the constructors has somewhat diminished, and that’s where we are focusing.”
Horner is optimistic about Red Bull’s recovery once the season resumes at Zandvoort: “I think we know where we need to focus and improve, and that’s what everyone is doing.”
“We secured pole by six tenths in Belgium. It was a very dominant display. And I think if Max had started from pole, the race would have been completely different. We took the penalty, and we limited the damage.”
Max Verstappen’s penalty at Spa has thus been problematic, and Horner admits he doesn’t know if his driver will have to suffer more: “It depends on what happens to the pool. We think everything is fine for now.”
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Horner Predicts 2025 Battle Among Top F1 Teams Horner Predicts 2025 Battle Among Top F1 Teams
