Horner hits Mercedes with "hangover" claim

Additional reporting by Ewan Gale

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes Mercedes suffered from a "hangover" from 2021 across the past F1 campaign.

The Silver Arrows finished third in the constructors' standings behind runaway champions Red Bull and a resurgent Ferrari after struggling to adapt to the new technical regulations introduced by F1.

The inability to compete came just a season after the titanic battle between Red Bull and Mercedes and, in particular, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton for the 2021 title, which was only decided on the last lap of the championship.

But whilst Red Bull rode the wave of momentum to go on to take 17 wins out of 22 this term, Mercedes slumped, securing just a solitary victory at the penultimate round of the year in Brazil, with George Russell scoring his maiden triumph.

Asked if he would have believed the storyline of the campaign had it been written before racing got underway, speaking to GPFans in an end-of-season interview, Horner said: "You would never have believed it.

"I think that especially off the back of last year, that took so much energy, last year's championship, and you could see Mercedes had a hangover from that this year.

"I am just incredibly proud of the whole team, how it raised the bar again and came back fighting, adapting to the regulations, and being strategically sharp.

"We were on it when we needed to be and both drivers played their part with some massive victories."

Asked why he felt Mercedes had endured a 'hangover', Horner replied: "It was the first time they didn't have a dominant car.

"So to be able to beat them last year and to beat them again this year has been an incredible performance."