As Red Bull look to push Mercedes' Formula 1 monopoly even harder on the track this season, boss Christian Horner, meanwhile, has not forgotten Lewis Hamilton's 2011 jibe.

With Round 5 of the season rolling into Monte Carlo for the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend, Horner has continued to talk up his team's chances of proving the doubters wrong once more this term.

Despite Max Verstappen losing ground on Hamilton after the Briton took his third victory of the season in Barcelona a fortnight ago, the Dutchman remains the biggest threat to the Briton's four-year World Drivers' Championship reign.

As Sergio Perez has added to their threat this term, for Red Bull to win their first Constructors' crown since 2013, this campaign would be particularly sweet for the Red Bull chief.

But Horner still harbours tinges of ill-feeling over Hamilton's comments of 10 years ago. 

Back in 2011, Hamilton - then with McLaren - was battling Sebastian Vettel for the title, with the German still at that point in his Red Bull days.

As the Milton Keynes outfit were embarking on their own four-year grip of control on F1 with both Vettel and Mark Webber, Hamilton had objected to Red Bull's status as a manufacturer, or more, as he put it "a drinks company."

"Red Bull are not a manufacturer, they are a drinks company. It's a drinks company versus McLaren/Ferrari history," he said.

"I don't know what their plan is. Our team is building to become a bigger manufacturer, like Ferrari, and I can only see our team being there for a ridiculous amount of time. It is a pure-bred racing team."

Defending both McLaren and rival Ferrari's 'pure-bred racing pedigree', the Stevenage driver's words, however, still do not sit well with Horner, as his team appear in Hamilton's rear-view mirrors this season once more. 

And as he told The Race, Horner is excited Red Bull are now creating their own motorsport legacy, whilst also keen to remind Hamilton of his comments from the past.

“It’s gathering pace, we’re getting the right people, we’re using all the same philosophy as on the chassis side of bringing the right people in.

“We’ve demonstrated that we can do it on the chassis side. People I don’t think took Red Bull seriously when they entered the sport as a chassis manufacturer.

"We were famously called just an energy drinks company by a certain driver..."

With the construction of their own engine factory in the pipeline, Horner has recently looked to take an ingredient from Mercedes' own dominance, recruiting a number of former Silver Arrows staff to further enhance their own Honda engine.

And further keen to remove the Red Bull stigma, Horner suggests that his team are becoming one for the people, in a sport driven by them.

“Formula 1 is a people sport. And at the end of the day, you’re as good as your people.

"We’ll have a great facility, but we’ll have even greater people, as part of this project and that’s what’s tremendously exciting and I think that’s what’s attracting the talent."

As he threw one last jab in regard to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff's own recent sentiments that Red Bull merely throw money around to get that what they want, Horner disagrees.

“It’s not been about waving cheques in front of them, it’s about the integration, the opportunity to be part of one team rather than just an engine supplier.

“That’s really struck a chord and been a fundamental reason why we’ve managed to attract this talent.”