Red Bull boss Christian Horner has said the team will not make any judgements on the effect of the Formula 1 flexi-wing rule change, after chief rivals McLaren endured a disappointing Canadian Grand Prix.
The FIA introduced the technical directive [TD] for the previous round in Barcelona, in a bid to prevent teams benefitting too much from wings flexing under heavy loads.
In that race, the Woking-based squad continued to dominate, taking a 1-2 in largely dominant style.
But in Canada, both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris seemed to struggle over one lap, with Piastri qualifying third, with Norris fourth.
And regardless of the pair’s coming-together on Lap 67 – which took Norris out of the race – the McLaren race pace that has been so effective this season, particularly in hot weathers like Montreal, flattered to deceive.
When asked if the TD’s effect may have been more evident on the Circuit GIlles Villeneuve, Horner was quick to play down McLaren’s comparatively poor performance.
“You need a longer sample of races and tracks to see that,” he told media including Motorsport Week. “It’s certainly been McLaren’s first race [without a podium this season].
“They haven’t had a podium here, so on days like that you’ve got to try and capitalise on the points.”
Title-leader Piastri has voiced his lack of concern at its flat showing in Montreal, saying he was “confident in our team for the long haul.”
Horner is only too aware of the points deficit, but reiterated that there is still more than half of the season left to complete, and that Red Bull’s philosophy of fighting until the end will continue.
“I mean, the points gap, there’s still a significant points gap between us and them, but we don’t give up on anything,” he said. “We’re not even at the halfway point yet, so there’s a lot of racing, a lot of Sprint races coming up, and if we can keep chipping away and getting performance on the car, then nobody gives up on anything.”
Horner happy with ‘solid race’ in Canada
Horner was positive about the team’s performance, with Verstappen an easy second, but unable to overhaul the Mercedes of George Russell.
The crux of the inability to get the better of Russell in the race was, according to Horner, a difficult second stint after an early run on Medium tyres.
“Look, I think it was a solid race for us,” he said. “I mean, the first stint we pushed pretty hard early on on the Medium tyre.
“The tyre then started to open up, so I would say the second stint for us was probably our least competitive stint.
“We started to open up and grain the front left. But then the last stint was very strong, and was actually better than Kimi’s behind, and was pretty much a match to George, ahead on five or six lap older tyres.
“So yeah, I think it was a very solid race from us. Good points today. It was a well-executed race from that perspective.”
It was, however, a comparatively impressive showing from the RB21, given its highest end of performance comes in tracks with higher-speed circuits, something that Montreal’s lacks a great deal of.
“It was unusual,” Horner admitted. “I mean, I think we knew that Mercedes would be quicker, this type of circuit. Ferrari didn’t really have a great deal of pacing in the race. McLaren showed turns of pace, but you could see how hard it was to overtake them.”
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