Christian Horner: Red Bull's journey of comeback 'has been immense'

Red Bull moved into that season off the back of four consecutive 'doubles' of Drivers' and Constructors' Championship victories, but the switch to the turbo hybrid era saw Mercedes fly out of the traps and launch into their own dominant era.

Red Bull still finished second in the 2014 season, with Daniel Ricciardo being the only non-Mercedes driver to win a race all year, but they trailed their rivals in the Constructors' standings by almost 300 points.

This time around, the tables have turned again between the two teams - Red Bull taking home both titles and finishing 244 points clear of the Silver Arrows in the Constructors' chart.

The RB18 has also proven to be a record-breaking car, helping Max Verstappen on his way to an all-time record 15 race victories in the year, along with two more for Sergio Perez in the sister car, who himself was three points away from making it a Drivers' Championship one-two for the team.

Horner reflected on the journey the team have been on to get back to this point, saying that the staff members who have been with them throughout their time away from the top step have continued to work hard, and the motivation to succeed has not faded.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 and reflecting on the season, Horner said: "It's been immense. We've had the odd lump and bump along the way, but when you look at the season, what we've actually managed to achieve this year has surpassed anything we could have ever believed or imagined or anything we've ever achieved ourselves.

"We went through that pain, you know, [in] 2013 we finished a very dominant streak and '14 were the change of regs - we were nowhere.

"We never lost belief, people's heads drop but you have to keep focused on a target and many of the people that we have today are still with us from 2013, there's many new people that have joined the team as well and everybody's just kept focused on that challenge on that goal of getting back into a winning position.

"We did it last year and, this year, we've really gone a step further. And to get that Constructors' title back after eight very long years is testimony to all the hard work and dedication and belief that's gone in.

"I thought last year took every ounce of energy out of every member of the team. That was something that I don't think any of us have ever experienced before.

"And then this year, yeah, there's been there's been highs and lows and we've had issues to deal with, one of the biggest things we've had to deal with is the loss of our founder in Dietrich Mateschitz.

"For him, Formula 1 was his passion. It was his love. He gave so many drivers a chance, he gave us all a chance, so to have won this championship, we have to dedicate that very much to him and everything that we've done this year."