How Christian Horner is trying to put pressure on Ferrari ahead of 2024 F1 season

Within F1, the name Ferrari is not just like any other. The connotation is not negative in this case. On the contrary, beyond the results obtained on the track, the Italian team always arouses greater interest compared to the rest of the competing teams. This is due to various reasons, including the history associated with the brand, the multitude of supporters worldwide, and the fascination of seeing the only Italian team triumph against the “British block” that occupies almost the entire top tier of motorsport.

Unfortunately, however, as we well know, this is a double-edged sword. Because, after all, when all eyes are on you, expectations are always very high. It couldn’t be otherwise. And so, coming in second is the biggest and most bitter defeat, let alone finishing third or worse. Managing such a scenario is not at all easy, especially when the title has eluded Maranello for more than sixteen years.

Being “special” on certain occasions does anything but make the task easier. Especially in a fiercely competitive sport like F1. Always having the finger pointed at you, feeling judged every day, makes the already complicated work of technicians and engineers even more challenging. Closing ranks within the factory and building a virtual wall is crucial, to protect the intellectual properties that work every day to achieve the goal.

Ferrari: Horner puts pressure on the red team
The introduction of the article describes a well-known situation. Those skilled in other teams, in this case, the team principal of Red Bull, always know how to find the right words to convey information, especially when news is scarce. Christian Horner shows this by talking about the red team in relation to future expectations. He does this by “prostrating” himself before His Majesty, the Prancing Horse, claiming that the Italian team is different from the others. In practice, it’s as if we were talking about a “National Team.”

He then adds a personal opinion about Fred Vasseur, describing the Frenchman as a capable and competent technician. In doing so, he labels our domestic media as “brutal,” and we can say that he is not entirely wrong. This is because every small step of the Maranello-based team is scrutinized with extreme attention. All true. It’s strange that the “Spice Boy,” however, forgets to mention the British press, which has done and still does much worse about Ferrari. Without pulling punches, we can say, especially when an Italian single-seater competes for the title against a British one.

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The Britishman’s analysis continues regarding the “alleged” technical resurgence that different F1 teams must face to close the gap on the Milton Keynes team. A necessary step that, according to Christian, is not as significant as it might seem. His theory is as follows: halfway through this new regulatory cycle, the performance growth curve no longer has a great push. In practice, he claims that the “big moves” have already been made, unlike the other teams.

Regulatory continuity in this regard is seen as a disadvantage because, according to Christian Horner, after the initial two-year regulatory period, Red Bull is poised to face a point of “decreasing growth” regarding developments, expecting a significant reduction in the advantage gained during 2024. His conjecture as such should be respected. However, it is worth noting that hardly, if ever, without a massive regulatory change, a dominant team has started to decline.