What Red Bull learned from the stress of its latest F1 title success

But while debate about those closing laps will likely rage on forever, it should take nothing away from the job the Dutchman and his Red Bull team had done to get themselves into a position to end Mercedes' lock-out of F1 titles.

In fact, the outfit sees the shock turn of events in Abu Dhabi as simply a further piece of evidence that 2021 proved, beyond all doubt, that in F1 you should never give up.

Reflecting on how last year’s intense campaign has impacted its start to F1’s new era in 2022, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says there were some important take outs.

“I think what it demonstrated to me is that if you want something bad enough, if you really believe in something, then anything is possible in life,” said Horner, speaking to selected media including Autosport.

“Coming into last year, nobody could have predicted it. Mercedes was coming off the back of its most successful campaign with probably their best ever car.

“It was a subtle regulation change over the winter, but probably 65% of the chassis, the gearbox, suspension, was all carried over from what had been their domineering car. Yet we were able to turn up from the first race and be competitive and sustain that challenge, race in, race out, no matter what was thrown at us.

“So I think it just demonstrated to me that: forget all the noise. If you really want something, and you apply yourself, anything's possible.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1st position, celebrate on the podium

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Red Bull’s successful push for the 2021 championship did not come without its risks, especially at a time when teams had to carefully balance how far to develop last year’s cars