Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has insisted his squad have not “become idiots” after a comparatively difficult first half of the 2025 Formula 1 season.
The Milton Keynes-based outfit has, by its own high standards, struggled so far this year, with Max Verstappen managing two wins to lie third in the Drivers’ Championship, behind the McLaren pairing of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Its issues with its second car have also come to a head significantly, with Yuki Tsunoda struggling to keep up with the Dutchman, having taken over from Liam Lawson, who was ousted after two rounds.
Red Bull has now gone four races without tasting victory, and at the Red Bull Ring, it suffered a disappointing home race.
Verstappen was taken out on the opening lap by the Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, though he admitted he didn’t have the pace to challenge for the win with the RB21 regardless.
Meanwhile, Tsunoda struggled throughout the race after another early exit in qualifying, failing to make it past Q1.
During the race, he also collided with Franco Colapinto and received a time penalty as a result.
After the challenging Grand Prix, Horner candidly addressed the difficult weekend, but was clear that the team hasn’t lost its competitive edge.
“I believe that we have strength and depth in this team, but unfortunately, we haven’t seen the performance come which we would have liked,” Horner told media, including RacingNews365.
“We’re at the end of a set of regulations, we are compromised by some of the tools we have, but it is the same fundamental group of figures who, 18 months ago, had designed a car which won every single Grand Prix, bar one.
Red Bull focuses on ‘working smarter’ amid championship challenges
Horner was quick to dismiss any notion that the team’s key personnel had suddenly lost their edge.
Instead, he praised McLaren’s progress while emphasising Red Bull’s focus on smarter work and seizing every chance on track.
“They just don’t suddenly become idiots overnight, so you have to acknowledge the great job McLaren is doing and congratulations to them, but for us, it is not just about working harder, because everyone is working incredibly hard, but about working smarter,” the 51-year-old continued.
“We are just focusing on every Grand Prix and trying to grab every opportunity, like we did in Montreal, we were second ahead of the McLarens and [in Austria the Canada] race-winner [George Russell] was 62 seconds behind and being caught by a Sauber, so it shows how it shifts around.”
Verstappen now trails championship leader Piastri by a staggering 61 points after 11 rounds of the 2025 season.
On multiple occasions, Verstappen has indicated that he believes his championship challenge is effectively over — a sentiment echoed last weekend by Red Bull’s technical advisor Helmut Marko.
Adding to the team’s struggles, Red Bull has scored fewer points than Sauber across the last three races combined.
READ MORE – Red Bull insists RB21 ‘not that difficult’ to drive amid Yuki Tsunoda F1 struggles
