Christian Horner U-turns after Canadian GP despite shutting George Russell down

Christian Horner has made a U-turn on his team’s hopes of winning every F1 race in 2023 after previously shutting down George Russell’s previous claims. Earlier this season, the Mercedes star stressed Red Bull’s dominance could see the team win all 22 races.

However, Horner was quick to shut down the assertion despite having a comfortable advantage. But the Briton appeared to finally take on the challenge after Verstappen clinched victory in Canada on Sunday. 

The win is Red Bull’s eighth straight victory of the campaign and their 100th since entering the sport. He told Sky Sports F1: “Can we [win every race?] Yes. Will we? Who knows? There’s so many variables in this game and we just take things one race at a time.

“The whole team is doing an incredible job, Max is driving out of his skin as well at the moment, so collectively, the group have done a tremendous job.

“To get a century of victories is an incredible achievement for all the people back at the factory that put in all the long hours. 100 races is a lot, but 100 wins is 27 per cent of all the races that we’ve entered.

“Max has been sensational this weekend – it was a tricky race for him today because of the tyre temperatures – I think for all the guys it was tough because it was quite cool and the tyres weren’t in a happy window.” Verstappen’s latest win never looked in doubt with the Dutchman enjoying a lights-to-flag victory. 

The double world champion now leads the Drivers’ Championship by a staggering 69 points ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez who struggled again in Montreal. 

Russell made his wild prediction at the first race of 2023 in Bahrain, admitting he didn’t see anyone challenging the Milton Keynes-based constructor at the front. However, Horner refused to accept the feat was doable and listed a range of factors. 

He explained: “I think that’s a massively tall order. I mean, you’ve got 23 events, street circuits, there’s going to be the weather that turns up, there’s going to be reliability, strategy, an element of luck. So I think to win 23 races is unimaginable.”