Christian Horner

Christian Horner's 'cunning plan' comes to life for Abu Dhabi GP

The former Red Bull boss was playing a long game

Chris Deeley

Tuesday 2 December 2025 19:55

Sky Sports F1 have thrown back to a clip where pundit Ted Kravitz told Oscar Piastri about Christian Horner's 'cunning plan' to snatch the title away from McLaren's drivers, which looks more and more prophetic every week.

Piastri and Lando Norris looked to be locked in a two-way battle for the drivers' championship at the halfway stage of the season, but Max Verstappen has roared back into contention over the last eight races.

The Red Bull star was 104 points behind then-leader Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, but has won five of eight races since then to overtake the Australian and sit within touching distance of Norris heading into this week's season finale.

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Kravitz explained that all the way back in May, before the Spanish Grand Prix, Horner's 'cunning plan' was to keep Verstappen just within touching distance of the papaya pair and hope that they both folded under the pressure of their first real title battle.

Kravitz reveals Horner's cunning plan

Not only has Piastri showed some signs of feeling the pressure – crashing in qualifying in Azerbaijan, false starting and then crashing on the first lap of the race isn't typically the sign of a settled mind – but the team has started to make collective mistakes, like their strategy disaster in Qatar last weekend.

Even if Horner hasn't been a Red Bull employee for a number of months, his influence at the team will linger for some time.

Kravitz explained: "Pre-Spain, you know what Red Bull's cunning plan was, don't you? Christian Horner pretty much said this, 'We're just going to keep Max in touch with Oscar and Lando until basically Singapore, when the pressure really ramps up on those last few flyaway races.

"'Max has been there, done that, seasoned campaigner, won four in a row, he'll know how to handle the championship pressure when it all gets tasty, and young Oscar and Lando won't know what's hit them.' That was their cunning plan!"

At the time, Piastri simply smirked and said: "Okay, let's see how it works out."

He might not be so chilled out if the same idea was put to him in the aftermath of Qatar.

Red Bull Max Verstappen Christian Horner