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Christian Horner Responds to Red Bull, Mercedes “Cheating Like Animals” Claim

Horner left Red Bull last year after a 20 year stint at the helm of the Formula 1 team.
Ewan Gale|
Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Christian Horner has leapt to the defense of former team, Red Bull, and rivals Mercedes in the ongoing controversy surrounding engine compression ratio tricks in Formula 1.

Technical regulation changes are introduced this season, which sees the first major overhaul to power units since the arrival of V6 turbo-hybrids in 2014.

Reports ahead of the first week of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya suggested that both Red Bull-Ford and Mercedes High-Performance Powertrains had been able to exploit compression ratio rules to gain a significant on-track advantage.

It is believed that the engines will be able to run with a ratio of 18:1, which exceeds the 16:1 limit laid out in the technical regulations.

Red Bull Ford Engine cover 2026 launch
Red Bull Content Pool

Teams pushing the boundaries

But with measurements taken at ambient temperature rather than being monitored on track, the tests can be circumvented to ensure compliance.

It is known that a letter was sent to the FIA by rivals Ferrari, Audi and Honda to raise concerns with subsequent meetings taking place since. Speaking on Australia's Today program ahead of a tour of the country that coincides with the start of the new F1 season, he has defended his former team and rival.

Responding to a claim that Mercedes and Red Bull-Ford were "cheating like animals", Horner replied: "That's a big statement.

"Formula 1 is about pushing the boundaries. It’s about how you interpret regulations. [It] always has been and always will be. Teams that are the most conservative are the teams that are never at the front of the grid; you’ve got to be pushing the envelope.

"Of course, it’s all about how you interpret regulations and engineers, some of the brightest engineers on the planet, will be looking at those regulations and thinking: 'Okay, how can I maximise performance?'"

Both teams impressed with their reliability performances at the behind-closed-doors first test, referred to as a shakedown by F1 teams.

Horner, meanwhile, has been linked to a return to the sport by buying into the Alpine outfit - something that has been acknowledged by the team.

The Briton has been observing from the sidelines since being axed as Red Bull team principal midway through the 2025 season, before he left the organization entirely later in the year.

His departure came after a tempestuous two years for the squad, as an apparent power struggle ensued following the death of Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz, which played out alongside complaints over Horner's behavior towards a colleague.

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Ewan Gale
EWAN GALE

Ewan is a motorsport journalist covering F1 for Grand Prix On SI. Having been educated at Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix, and subsequently graduating from university with a sports journalism degree, Ewan made a move into F1 in 2021. Ewan joins after a stint with Autosport as an editor, having written for a number of outlets including RacingNews365 and GPFans, during which time he has covered grand prix and car launches as an accredited member of the media.

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