Christian Horner reveals Red Bull’s biggest challenge for Brazilian GP
Christian Horner highlights key challenges Red Bull must tackle before running their RB20 at Interlagos for the Brazilian GP.
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Christian Horner and Max Verstappen (Via: Imago)
Red Bull faced significant challenges at the Mexican GP, struggling to regain the form that was seen in Austin. Max Verstappen experienced a performance slump, finishing behind title rival Lando Norris once again.
In Mexico, he ended up sixth due to a loss of pace and a 20-second penalty for his aggressive moves against Norris. As the season shifts to Brazil this weekend, team principal Christian Horner has highlighted Red Bull’s biggest challenge for the Interlagos race.
At the Mexican GP Max Verstappen expressed concerns about his car’s performance and particularly about his tires during the race. He mentioned that both hard and medium tires did not provide enough grip for his car to be faster.
Historically Red Bull’s cars have performed well at the AHR circuit but they struggled a lot this year with overall pace. Although their qualifying was pretty good as Verstapppen secured second place on the grid. But despite this, the reigning world champion finished sixth. Team principal Christian Horner pointed out that this was a significant takeaway from the race.
I think that is the biggest thing that we need to take away from here. More so on the hard tyre, we just didn’t have the same pace.
Christian Horner said, as reported by Motorsport
Verstappen’s troubles began right from Friday practice when he reported a lack of power and strange noises coming from his RB20’s engine. However, the main problem was still with the tires, where he struggled to find grip.
This lack of grip made it harder for him to apply brakes and keep the car under control during the 71-lap race. Horner stressed that fixing these issues before the Brazilian GP is their top priority, calling it their biggest challenge. The team knows they need to address these problems fast to ensure a stronger performance in upcoming weekends.
Max had no grip, we didn’t feel we could switch the tires on. So that’s the biggest challenge in the next four days, to understand what caused that.
Christian Horner stated
Christian Horner feels championship fight will be ‘very difficult’
In Mexico, both Ferrari drivers were faster than Max Verstappen, while only Lando Norris from McLaren outpaced him. Ferrari’s strong performances, finishing 1-2 in Austin and 1-3 in Mexico, left the Dutchman trailing behind.
This along with Sergio Perez‘s constant issues cost Red Bull valuable points, dropping them to third in the constructors’ standings. As a result, the gap in points has grown, and Horner believes it will be very difficult for his team to fight for the constructors’ title with just four races remaining.
I think it will be very difficult. We never give up. We’ll fight very hard. We need both cars, obviously, scoring.
Christian Horner emphasized
However, Horner remains highly optimistic and determined to fight until the end with both drivers, refusing to give up. Red Bull is bringing a new engine to Brazil to boost horsepower and give Verstappen an edge in speed. However, this upgrade comes with a five-place grid penalty, meaning wherever Verstappen qualifies, he’ll have to start five spots lower.
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Gaurang Kadam
(535 Articles Published)