The RB19 has broken all records this season, surpassing the record now held by three-time world champion Max Verstappen. Along with his team-mate’s two early season wins, the Red Bull car has 21 wins in 22 races this year, a staggering feat compared to other periods of dominance.
Verstappen’s win in the final race of the season took him to 19 wins, the only weekend Red Bull didn’t sit on the top step of the rostrum with Singapore’s upset. They managed to win five of the six sprints between them, with only Oscar Piastre in Qatar able to better the RB19 in the shortest format.
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„This car is going to go down in the history books as a very, very special car,” Horner said. “Winning 21 out of 22 races…missing out in Singapore leaves room for improvement. But, I mean, what a year.
„I think more than anything, all the men and women behind the scenes at the factory, the whole business…all the support staff have done this. They’ve played their part in making this car and making it work.
„We’ve had 22 different places; we’ve won 21 of them. Rain, wind, all kinds of conditions and techniques. It’s been an amazing year and everyone can be proud of what they’ve done. I’ve done it.”
Not only the sheer speed of the RB19, but also the most wins in a season, most wins by a driver, most wins from the pole by a driver, most points and accolades for their first win made this a very exciting year for the team. Always finished 1-2 in the Drivers’ Championship.
The RB19 was incredibly reliable, with a strong power unit delivering cargo straightaways, a dominant TRS assembly, and early-season improvements that lifted them even further clear of the field.
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„It’s about success, it’s about achieving a goal and I think we’ve gone through some tough years and we’ve never lost sight of what our goal is,” Horner continued. “During those tough years we always had wins here and there and we never lost that fighting spirit.
„We still operate as an old-school racing team. We push the limits, we push ourselves, and I don’t think anyone wants to let the side down. Once Honda came back with a competitive engine, we were in a position to take advantage of that and I have to pay tribute to them for the role they played and the reliability we saw. .
Even Mercedes’ 2016 season didn’t match this season for dominance, with the Silver Arrows losing two races in 21 Grands Prix that year. What Red Bull has done has stumped even the most cynical Paddock players – but they’re not resting on their laurels.
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„We always see marginal gains, and it’s never enough,” Horner added. “We know our enemies; This will force them back to us strongly. Nothing stands still in this game, everything moves very quickly, and you can see that because we don’t develop resistance.
„So we’ll take all these lessons from this car and apply them to our 20th car next year, the RB20, and try to defend both of these titles.”
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