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Max Verstappen lost his first-ever title battle this season to Lando Norris as he fell short by two points. This was a season where the Dutch driver had not expected to be in contention by the end of the season. After the race in Zandvoort, as Max has himself admitted, he didn't expect to be in the fight for the title.
The driver was 104 points behind the championship leader at that point. If he did somehow overcome that deficit, he would have broken his own record of overcoming the largest points deficit.
Yet, the Dutch driver took the battle into the last race of the season. Max Verstappen secured pole position and won the last race of the season to become the driver with the most wins and pole positions.
In the end, he did not appear to be too disappointed at the fact that a title might have been lost. Looking back, however, the 4x F1 champion dearly missed the ruthlessness of his former team boss Christian Horner, and ultimately that led to him losing the championship.
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There were critical moments in the championship where Red Bull, led by Horner, would have approached things differently, in a manner that would have left no points on the table.
Pitting Max Verstappen in Brazil
The F1 Brazilian GP is arguably one of the moments where Red Bull and Max Verstappen might think that they've left something on the table. Max was leading the race, and while Lando Norris was chasing him down on fresher tires, the Dutch driver did have decent pace in his car.
Looking back, Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg successfully executed the strategy, demonstrating that the tire was durable enough. Unfortunately, Max Verstappen and Red Bull opted to pit and play it safe. In the end, he'd come home in P3 behind Kimi Antonelli.
Had the Dutch driver stayed out at that point, Lando Norris would have been forced to try and overtake him on track, which would also mean that there's an element of risk attached to that. It was never going to be straightforward for Norris to overtake Verstappen on track, and looking back, if Christian Horner were at the helm, he would have definitely opted to gamble for the win instead of playing it safe.
The Lando Norris 'tape' controversy
It was around the time of the F1 Singapore GP and the Brazilian GP that the Red Bull crew started tinkering with Lando Norris' tape, which he used as an indicator for his starting grid position. This led to a small penalty for a crew member in São Paulo, which was subsequently followed by Laurent Mekies calling for peace.
The act of fiddling with the tape was well within the regulations for the Red Bull crew, but Mekies didn't want any altercation or escalation with McLaren at that point. Would Christian Horner have done the same? Probably not. He would have doubled down on this because such a thing acts as a distraction for a driver like Lando Norris, while Max Verstappen is someone who can insulate himself from the noise and focus on races.
Would that have made a difference in the overall championship fight? Probably not. But it would have given both McLaren and Lando Norris something to think about for sure. And when you're forced to think about stuff you do not want to pay attention to, mistakes happen.
A lack of aggression in Abu Dhabi
Arguably, something that many expected from both Max Verstappen and Red Bull at the F1 Abu Dhabi GP was a bit of a repeat of how Lewis Hamilton approached the title decider against Nico Rosberg in 2016. The Brit had tried to back the pack up in an effort to put the German in harm's way from the chasing pack.
Many expected Verstappen to do the same at some point in the F1 Abu Dhabi GP. For some reason, Red Bull opted not to do that and just bring the car home with a win. Reflecting on it afterwards, Mekies felt that just bringing the car home was the right thing to do.
Once again, such an attitude and approach is something one would not see from a Christian Horner. Under Horner, Red Bull was a team that left nothing on the table, and as is often said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take".
Backing up the field and putting McLaren and Lando Norris under pressure is the least one would have expected the Red Bull-Max Verstappen combination to do. The fact that they didn't even attempt it came as a surprise.
Conclusion
The fact of the matter is that, at the end of the season, we can review multiple races and discuss what could have happened at different stages. The foundational premise, however, is that with Christian Horner not at the helm, Max Verstappen missed the ruthless presence alongside him that was willing to push all boundaries, even if it made him unlikable and unpopular.
The DNA of Red Bull under Christian Horner was of a team that wasn't going down without a fight. The current version of the team was maybe more amenable to its rivals and was not willing to stir the pot unless necessary.
Would Max Verstappen have clinched the championship with Christian Horner at the helm? Maybe, maybe not! But Horner would have made sure that, in the last race, until the last lap, Lando Norris, McLaren, Zak Brown, and the F1 fandom were on the edge of their seats, nervous that anything could go wrong.
The DNA of the Red Bull is not the same anymore, and maybe that x-factor was what Max Verstappen needed to carry him over the line.
