Red Bull boss Christian Horner is adamant that the team still has the fastest car in Formula 1 amid Max Verstappen’s claim it shouldn’t treat being caught as “normal”.
Heading into last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Red Bull’s dominance under the current ground effect regulations looked to be at an end with increased competition.
Verstappen had opened the campaign with seven consecutive pole positions, but the Dutchman hadn’t lined up right at the sharp end across the previous four rounds.
Horner’s stance has remained that Red Bull produced a “unicorn” campaign last term and that convergence when there are stable regulations is going to be inevitable.
But having capitalised on rivals’ shortcomings to prevail in Canada and Spain to extend his championship lead, Verstappen urged Red Bull to not become complacent.
“In general everybody has come closer,” he said in the race build-up at the Red Bull Ring. “Of course, we had a hugely dominant year last year, even until the last race.
“At the moment it’s all just a bit more difficult and I think we just have to be honest about that.
“We could say: ‘Yes, it’s normal’. I don’t think it’s normal. We always want to be better, and that’s why I bring that up.
“I could also say: ‘Yes, we won, so it’s fine.’ But of course, I don’t look at it that way.”
Red Bull appeared on course to issue an ominous warning to its rivals in Austria as Verstappen stormed to pole and was then cruising out in the lead in the main race.
However, a sluggish 6.5-second pit stop placed Lando Norris’ McLaren right on his tail and a titanic contest between the two resulted in contact with seven laps to go.
Although a win slipped through its hold as Verstappen recovered from a puncture to claim fifth, Horner took encouragement from Red Bull’s renewed competitiveness.
“I think we had a stronger weekend than Barcelona here, in terms of car pace and performance,” Horner said.
“You look at the quali performance, if you look at the Sprint race, the first and second stint, which are like for like tyre for tyre, I thought we were in good shape.”
Horner contends that the final stint where Norris was pressuring Verstappen was not representative and thinks Red Bull had the measure over McLaren last weekend.
Asked whether McLaren now had the legs on Red Bull, Horner retorted: “Well he did four laps on a Soft tyre that would have been good enough for pole yesterday.
“He won the Sprint race convincingly, had an eight-second lead before we had a problem with the pit stop. I thought we had them covered this weekend.”
Horner denied that Red Bull expected to dominate based on its one-lap advantage, but admitted that the champions “expected to win” under “normal circumstances”.
The Briton repeated his view that the competition closing in on the Austrian outfit was destined to occur rather than accelerated due to Red Bull resting on its laurels.
“There was some close racing at the beginning of ’22, with Charles [Leclerc] and so on,” he added when asked about the growing challenge from Norris and McLaren.
“But probably since, but this year, he’s had to fight for every victory, or certainly the last three.
“But that’s Formula 1, that’s the way this sport is. I think cruising off in 25-second leads is abnormal.”
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