Red Bull principal Christian Horner has fired a dig at the team's rivals claiming his constructor is not a 'political organisation' but pushes the racing limits.
While Max Verstappen dominated this year's F1 world championship Red Bull had their critics off the track due to breaching the cost cap set the previous year. The cap was introduced in a bid to level the playing field between teams with vastly different budgets.
Red Bull boss Helmut Marko said that there was 'a lot of politics' involved as the FIA handed them a 'draconian penalty'. After being found to have breached the cost cap by £1.8million Red Bull received a £6m fine and 10% reduction in wind tunnel time for next season.
Red Bull's rivals have slammed the penalty for not being harsh enough. However, Horner has hit back saying his team have had a 'target on their backs' and previously claimed it was due to jealousy of their success on the track.
“Off-track, we’ve firmly had a target on our back this year," Horner told Autosport. “We’re a race team. We’re not a political organisation.
"We just focus on going racing and we’re hard racers, we push the boundaries, which is what race teams do if they want to succeed. That’s always been our approach. It’s always worked well for us. It’s the way we enjoy competing. At times, it’s felt it has been tough this year. That’s unfortunately Formula 1.”
Do Red Bull deserve their criticism off the track? Let us know your views in the comments section
On the track Red Bull had an indifferent start to the championship which saw Verstappen fail to finish two of the opening three races but win the other. The Dutch driver than hit an incredible run of form winning 15 of the 22 race series and the overall championship.
Meanwhile, Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez also won two raced and finished third in the driver's championship.
Horner puts his team's success down to 'effectively managing the car' which saw them beat title rivals Ferrari, with Verstappen winning the driver's championship with four races remaining.
“We just kept efficiently developing the car, managing to lose a bit of weight," added Horner. "And Max has been in sensational form this year. You think back to some of the races earlier this year, it was so tight in the early races with Ferrari – you think of Miami, Saudi, even Bahrain. It’s been an incredible season for us.”
