Christian Horner criticises Lewis Hamilton’s “selective memory” over Red Bull’s dominance
Red Bull boss Christian Horner has criticised Lewis Hamilton for his “selective memory” when complaining about Red Bull’s dominance.
Red Bull have dominated F1 since the start of the new technical regulations in 2022.
The team have won 19 of the 20 races in F1 2023, with Max Verstappen winning 17 of them.
Naturally, their dominant campaign has resulted in criticism and comments from various members of the paddock, including Hamilton.
Mercedes enjoyed a dominant period of their own, winning eight constructors’ titles in a row between 2014 and 2021, while Hamilton won six of his seven drivers’ championships in this period.
Horner believes Hamilton should avoid being hypocritical given the “obscene” amount of winning Mercedes did previously.
“I feel like he’s got selective memory,” Horner said on Dax Shepard's Eff Won podcast.
“So you know, some of the winning that they did in that period was just obscene. We’ve had a good run for a couple of years, but the one guy that shouldn’t be saying that, I would think, is Lewis.”
What has Hamilton said?
The 38-year-old suggested earlier in the year explained his point of view that no single team should be allowed to dominate.
He told Channel 4: “We shouldn’t have a chance to dominate for a large number of years, the battle for top positions should be closer. Unfortunately, however, Red Bull could seriously dominate in the next three seasons as well.
“If we continue like this, maybe it will be Ferrari that will dominate in the next few years, or maybe McLaren will, or maybe Mercedes will come back ahead, but I think this is not the best thing for the fans.”
Hamilton even suggested a potential rule change to stop dominant teams from getting an early advantage for the following season.
“I think the FIA should probably put a time when everyone is allowed to start developing on the next year's car,” he said in July. “So August 1, that's when everybody can start so then no one can get an advantage on the next year, cause that sucks.
"It would make more sense. They should. Say for example you start the season and you know you have a bad car, you can just say I'm not going to bother developing this car and put all this money into next year's car and have an advantage.”