Christian Horner divulged that Red Bull is now “90 per cent” focused on the car that will be built for Formula 1‘s new regulations in 2026 prior to his exit as team boss.
The Austrian squad’s dwindling title prospects endured another sizeable blow last weekend at Silverstone as Max Verstappen came home outside the podium places.
Red Bull’s choice to adopt a Monza-spec rear wing helped elevate Verstappen to a sensational pole position, but rain in the race saw the team’s gamble soon backfire.
The Dutchman was powerless to preserve position over the McLaren drivers, while an uncharacteristic spin exiting Stowe consigned him to a damage limitation drive.
Verstappen completed the top five as McLaren secured another 1-2 to leave the reigning F1 champion a daunting 69 points behind Oscar Piastri with 12 rounds to go.
Having introduced updates to complete the package that came in Austria, Horner professed Red Bull was under no illusion about where the RB21’s limitations remain.
“We focus on the positives,” Horner, who has now been ousted as Red Bull’s Team Principal and CEO, told media including Motorsport Week at Silverstone on Sunday.
“We’ve got pole position here. We’ve got performance on the car from the upgrade that we brought.
“We were able to balance it for qualifying at a track that’s very heavily aero-dependent. We got unlucky with the weather today. It was worth a shot, but it didn’t pay off.
“So we’ll focus on the positives. We know where we need to improve to keep moving forward. We’ve outscored George Russell, so we are where we are.”
Red Bull placing vast emphasis on RB22
Red Bull’s one-position drop in the Constructors’ Championship versus 2024 has entitled the side to additional wind tunnel time compared to the previous six months.
But while he indicated there are some upgrades in the pipeline, Horner had disclosed Red Bull’s overriding attention is now on next season’s revamped technical rules.
“Look, there’s still the last pieces of ‘25 going through, but obviously 90 per cent of the focus now is on 2026,” he revealed.
Red Bull not attentive to championship situation
Horner also admitted Red Bull’s fixation on the title had gone amid Verstappen’s points gap to the McLarens, coupled with the Woking-based squad’s pace advantage.
“McLaren have done a super job so far this year,” he assessed. “They’ve been very dominant.
“We’ve managed to win two races so far. We’re a significant gap behind in the Drivers’ Championship, so everyone has got to take an eye off that now and just focus on race by race.
“They’re all sort of like FA Cup finals, so you’ve just got to try and optimise every single race and then the points tables tend to take care of themselves.
“But we’re really not looking too far at the championship tables at the moment as opposed to individual races that are coming thick and fast.”
