Red Bull boss Christian Horner has warned that recent circuits have not suited its 2024 Formula 1 car, despite accepting that McLaren is providing a closer challenge.
Discounting a blip in Australia where Max Verstappen retired and gave Ferrari a 1-2, Red Bull has continued to be the pre-eminent side in the nascent stages this term.
The Austrian outfit has taken five wins to open up an advantage in the Constructors’ standings, but McLaren’s Miami upgrades helped Lando Norris to his maiden win.
McLaren’s updated MCL38 car proved to be a competitive proposition once more at Imola as both Norris and Oscar Piastri almost edged Verstappen to pole position.
Norris then mounted a late charge in the race to end seven-tenths behind Verstappen at the chequered flag, heightening the hopes there could be a title fight brewing.
Horner, who predicted on the eve of the season that rival teams would slash the gap over the winter, believes there will be more tense finishes in the remaining races.
“You can’t take anything for granted,” he said. “We certainly don’t. However, we’ve won five out of seven and two out of two Sprint races and seven out of seven poles.
“The margins are fine, very fine. In year three of these rules, there’s always going to be convergence. We’re seeing exactly that.
“You can see the look of the cars is converging. You can see the performance is converging. We’re going to see more races like today with very fine margins.”
McLaren started last season struggling to even score points with an underdeveloped car, but a mid-season concept change established it as a regular podium finisher.
The papaia squad has since maintained that upward curve to almost be on a par with Red Bull, with boss Andrea Stella claiming execution will determine who’s ahead.
But despite conceding that McLaren is now a genuine threat to Red Bull, Horner has cautioned that both Miami and Imola weren’t favourable venues towards the RB20.
“I think that arguably over the last couple of races, yes, they have been the main competitor,” Horner added. “They’ve definitely added performance to their car.
“The philosophy is very similar to that of our own. They’ve definitely made a step. We expect them to be competitive at all circuits.
“There are certain circuits that play to our strengths and there are certain circuits that don’t.
“The last couple have been more, if you like, circuits that haven’t played to the inherent strengths of the car.”
Despite the dominance it sustained last term, Red Bull relied on Verstappen’s brilliance over a single lap to secure a crucial pole position around the streets of Monaco.
With Monte Carlo representing an outlier on the F1 calendar and the margins tending to be close, Horner has suggested the difference could come down to the drivers.
“Monaco is unique,” he previewed. “So you’ve got to have a car that you have confidence in. You’ve got to have a driver that has confidence to go near the barriers.
“And I think it’s a race that we’ve traditionally performed relatively well at. Hopefully we can take this form into that race, but it’s a bit of a one-off.”
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