The only thing missing was a ‘duh’ as Christian Horner revealed his “no-brainer” dream Red Bull line-up, although there wasn’t room even on the bench for nine-time Grand Prix winner Mark Webber.

Horner took on the role of Red Bull Racing team principal in 2005, and under his leadership, the team broke through to become one of F1’s heavy hitters.

David Coulthard? He’s in Horner’s Red Bull line-up

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Red Bull have enjoyed two periods of dominance, with Sebastian Vettel kickstarting the first when he won a four-way fight for the Drivers’ Championship title in 2010.

He came from behind having never led the standings to beat Fernando Alonso, his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, and Lewis Hamilton to the title with a quartet separated by just 16 points.

He went on to amass four World titles at Red Bull, the team matching his success in the Constructors’ Championship.

As the tides turned, and a new engine formula came into play, Red Bull lost out to Mercedes but rebounded in the very last season before F1 introduced all-new technical regulations, to dethrone Mercedes.

Max Verstappen won his first of four World titles in F1 2021, denying seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton a record-breaking eighth championship in a tense wheel-to-wheel battle that, like Vettel’s first, went down to the wire.

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And so began the Verstappen era as he led Red Bull to four Drivers’ titles, and increased their teams’ trophies to six.

It’s no surprise that Horner bills Vettel and Verstappen as his ideal Red Bull Racing driver line-up.

But when it comes to his choice of reserve, he’ll take Daniel Ricciardo with his seven Red Bull wins ahead of Webber, who bagged eight in his seven seasons with the Milton Keynes team.

And the team boss has absolutely no doubts about his selection.

“It’s a no-brainer!” Horner proclaimed in a wide-ranging interview with PlanetF1.com’s Thomas Maher.

“Max and Sebastian with Daniel as your reserve and David Coulthard as your ambassador!”

Horner isn’t the only Red Bull higher-up who has sung Verstappen’s praises in recent weeks.

Although the Dutchman faces the very real prospect of losing the World title to McLaren, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris first and second in the Drivers’ standings while Verstappen trails the Australian driver by 49 points, Helmut Marko believes the 27-year-old is the “best driver” Red Bull has ever had.

“He definitely is the best driver we have ever had,” Marko told BBC’s The Inside Track. “He’s developing, developing [all the time], and in Imola, his third corner overtake was unbelievable.

“I don’t see the end of his progress yet. He always comes with something extra.

“Last year the race in Brazil in the wet, from 17th to first – he’s getting faster with less risk and more calm.

“He does not have to push every lap, he is really relaxed, but he’s not pushing, or it doesn’t look like he’s on the limit.

“But when it matters, he delivers.”

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