Red Bull boss Christian Horner has conceded there will be “no silver bullet” to cure the troubles that contributed to the team’s woes in Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix.
The Austrian squad endured a miserable weekend in Monte Carlo as Max Verstappen hit the wall in Q3 and qualified in sixth, while Sergio Perez was eliminated in Q1.
A clash on the first lap with Kevin Magnussen took Perez out and the resulting red flag created the circumstance where drivers could change teres and run to the end.
Verstappen would circulate in his starting position through the race, despite making a pit stop onto new Hards and mounting an attack on George Russell’s Mercedes.
Red Bull’s undoing in Monte Carlo derived from the RB20 being unable to ride the kerbs, with Verstappen admitting the problem has been prevalent across this ruleset.
But with Yuki Tsunoda topping the midfield contest in an RB car using the RB20’s suspension, Horner has pondered whether new parts are behind Red Bull’s struggles.
“First of all, it’s understanding what the issue is,” Horner assessed. “I think once we’ve done that, then you can look at what the relevant fix is.
“It’s a continual process, you’re into the law of diminishing returns and your focus changes depending what your problems are.
“So I think quite a lot of focus will now happen on why have we had these ride issues why is the car struggling on the kerbs.
“The VCARB car is running with our suspension from last year, didn’t seem to have the same issues, so we need to understand if it is something we have introduced.”
Earlier in the weekend, Verstappen lamented his Red Bull car behaving like a “go-kart running without a suspension” which was “not absorbing kerb strikes or bumps”.
However, Horner has denied that Verstappen’s comments are concerning and concurred with the Dutchman that Red Bull cannot expect to unlock an instant solution.
“I mean, listen to Max’s comments over the last 10 years. He’s just very direct, he’s very forthright and it just focuses everyone,” Horner added.
“There was a very good debrief yesterday, following qualifying were we really dug into right, what exactly is the sensation from the driver?
“He put a big effort into spending the time with the engineers yesterday evening. There’s no silver bullet, it’s just about working hard and understanding it.”
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