2023 Red Bull F1: Team principal Christian Horner | Drivers Max Verstappen and Checo Pérez

Red Bull was far and away the best team in the 2022 Formula 1 season, sealing the constructors’ championship with an unassailable lead with three races remaining in the year, and Max Verstappen being the runaway winner of the world drivers’ championship.

The team looks like they are on their way to repeat the success of last year, with their new RB 19 responding excellently in pre-season testing ahead of 2023′s first race in Bahrain. Verstappen tested the car with the self-assurance of an undisputed champion and was pleased with the car’s balance and overall performance, while Checo Perez set the fastest lap as testing wrapped up at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Team principal Christian Horner expects to have another stellar season, noting that Verstappen’s confidence is sky-high as they kick off the year, and that Perez continues to develop and advance with the team.

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Christian Horner

Horner has been with Red Bull since 2005, when he became the youngest team principal at the time. He had been a race car driver, competing in British Formula Three, British Formula Two, and Formula 3000, where he founded the Arden team.

He retired from race car driving at the age of 25, and began to focus on team management at Arden. The team enjoyed success in F3000 until the competition’s final season in 2004, where they won both the drivers’ and constructors’ championship titles.

Horner looked for and found the opportunity to join Formula 1 in 2005 when Red Bull bought the Jaguar F1 team, which was renamed Red Bull Racing. He delivered results early on, ending his first year with a total of 34 points compared to the nine collected by Jaguar the year prior.

The British manager has brought much success to the team since then, which has so far amassed a total of five constructors’ championships and six drivers’ world titles.

Max Verstappen

Verstappen is the current drivers’ world champion, and looks to be on track to win his third consecutive title. The 25-year-old is the son of Formula 1 driver Jos Verstappen and competitive karting driver Sophie Kumpen. Having racing blood in his veins, he achieved successes early on in karting and single-seater categories, winning races and setting records.

He competed in his first Formula 1 race with Scuderia Toro Rosso, Red Bull’s second team, at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix when he was only 17. He became the youngest driver to race in F1- so young that he didn’t even get his road driver’s license until after one season of competing in Formula 1, when he finally turned 18.

In 2016, the same year that he was legally able to drive on the road, he moved to parent team Red Bull Racing and won his first Grand Prix in Spain. He became the youngest-ever driver to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

The Dutch driver has been on the rise since then, with 35 victories, 77 podiums, 20 pole positions, and two World Championship titles tucked firmly under his belt.

Checo Perez

Perez has driven for Red Bull since the 2021 season. Before then, he had stints with Sauber, McLaren, Force India, and Racing Point. He began competing with Sauber in 2011, and achieved his first podium finish with them at the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix, landing in second place behind Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.

The 33-year-old won his first Grand Prix with Racing Point at the 2020 Sakhir GP, where he set the record for the most number of starts before winning a race at 190.

Perez’s F1 career became even more fruitful when he joined Red Bull. In his first season with the team, he won the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and clinched his first pole position at the 2022 Saudi Arabian GP where he set another record for joining the biggest number of races before a first pole position at 215. He scored his third and fourth Grand Prix victories last year in Monaco and Singapore.

This year, Perez looks determined to have a shot at the World Championship. After a highly publicized incident last year when Verstappen defied a team request to change places with Perez so that the Mexican driver could stay in contention for second place in the drivers’ championship race, he issued a warning to his teammate.

Speaking to Fox Sports Mexico, Perez said, “It’s always important to work as a team and obviously if I see that I don’t receive support when I need it, I won’t give it either.”