Red Bull boss Christian Horner has admitted the team “must hang onto McLaren’s coattails” until the summer break to help Max Verstappen retain his Formula 1 title.
Verstappen has headed into this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, where he has won on his previous three visits, in third place in the standings behind the McLaren duo.
The Dutchman sits a whole race win down on championship leader Oscar Piastri, who holds a marginal three-point advantage over McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.
However, Verstappen dismissed the consensus that he is right in contention to make it five consecutive Drivers’ Championships amid McLaren’s visible edge on pace.
Horner, who has expressed hope that upcoming updates can cut the gap, has accepted that Red Bull must ensure Verstappen remains in range over the European leg.
“Well, look, we’ve got to make sure we keep in touch,” Horner said in response to a question from Motorsport Week.
“And to beat them, we’ve got to start taking points off them. Imola was strong for us. Monaco wasn’t a strong race for us.
“They are the car to beat. They’ve got two strong drivers, and the car’s performing very well.
“So, it’s down to us to make improvements and get performance on the car over this summer part of the championship and make sure that we hang on to their coattails before the summer break and try and build a bit of momentum.”
Red Bull aim to make urgent inroads on McLaren
But while he suspects McLaren will be competitive this weekend in Spain, Horner has acknowledged that Red Bull must begin to make inroads over the coming races.
“You’ve got to say McLaren are going be the favourite here this weekend,” he added. “They’ve looked incredibly strong throughout all the early races.
“We take a lot of hope from the race we had in Imola, where we had great pace and we were able to win that race.
“But for sure, in these temperatures, they’re going to be super competitive.
“Now whether it’s Lando or Oscar is difficult to say. But for us, what’s crucial is we definitely try and take points off them this weekend.
“Yes, we’re only approximately a third of the way through the championship with a long way to go, but we need to start nibbling away at their points advantage.”
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