Red Bull vows fightback against McLaren: ‘We won’t give up’
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says his team won’t give up anything to its rivals – especially McLaren – in the final phase of the 2024 season, with an update on its way for its RB20 in Austin to help support its efforts.
With six rounds remaining on the docket, the reigning world champions find themselves in an unusual position: chasing the competition.
Dominant in the opening stages of the season, Red Bull has been comprehensively overhauled by the rapid rise of McLaren.
The Woking-based team’s MCL38 has established itself as the fastest car on the grid, with Red Bull having to cede the lead in the Constructors' championship while Lando Norris continues to chip away at Max Verstappen’s advantage – now 52 points – in the Drivers’ standings.
Despite this, Horner remains resolute, confident that Red Bull knows exactly where their car must improve to take the fight to McLaren.
“McLaren is the car to beat now. We see where their strengths are, and where their weaknesses are,” Horner told Channel 4.
“We know where we need to improve. We’ve got a vein of development now that the team are working very hard on.”
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Horner suggested that next week’s US Grand Prix at The Circuit of the Americas will be a pivotal weekend for Red Bull.
“I think for all teams, Austin will be a natural time of the year to bring some news. We have something important, but I think Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren will also have updates.
"Our goal is to build on the basis of what we began to understand clearly after Monza and bring a car that is well balanced between the two axles to give confidence to the driver, but it will not be easy.
“The first sector of the Circuit of the Americas is fast, but part of the track has also been resurfaced, so variables are added.
"In addition, it will be a sprint race weekend, so we will have to start strong right away. But the whole team worked hard to understand the problems and solve them and, if everything goes well, to remedy the situation already from Austin.”
Despite Verstappen finishing second behind Norris in Singapore – a whopping 21 seconds behind the McLaren charger, Horner found optimism in Red Bull's ability to make significant strides over the course of the weekend.
“Compared to where we were on Friday, which was in the corner, it was a good turnaround from the whole team. Max drove the wheels off it,” added the Briton.
However, Red Bull still has a lot of ground to recover.
“If we look at Lando’s performance in the first stint in Singapore, we need about 23 seconds,” Horner continued.
“We started to figure things out and find some solutions, but we have a lot to do.
"Obviously, it will depend on how the car responds from a mechanical and aerodynamic point of view, but also on the tyres, which are particularly sensitive this year.”
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Horner revealed that last month’s difficult Italian Grand Prix at Monza had left the team with a few important findings, including a correlation issue.
“There we saw the first signs of the problem because, when we removed the load from the car, the detachment between the front and rear axles was highlighted,” he said.
"And the data we collected on the track was very far from what we expected to see from our simulation tools.”
“There are six races, and a few sprint races, to go. There is an awful lot of racing to be done. We will push to the end, to Abu Dhabi, we won’t give up anything.
“Motivation is high in Milton Keynes. We know it will be six tough races until the end of the year.”
Despite the challenges, Horner remains confident that Red Bull has the tools and the motivation to fight to the very end.
“There are six races, and a few sprint races, to go,” he said. “There is an awful lot of racing to be done. We will push to the end, to Abu Dhabi, we won’t give up anything.
“Motivation is high in Milton Keynes. We know it will be six tough races until the end of the year.”
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