Red Bull building back from Monza low point, says Christian Horner
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Three-time world champion Max Verstappen emerged stronger than expected from back-to-back street races.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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LONDON – Formula One champions Red Bull hope to pick up the pace over the last six rounds of the season after Max Verstappen emerged stronger than expected from back-to-back street races in Azerbaijan and Singapore, team boss Christian Horner said.
The three-time world champion, who will be 27 on Sept 30, had his advantage over McLaren’s Lando Norris cut from 62 points after the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on Sept 1 to a current 52.
The season now has a four-week lull before a United States-Mexico-Brazil sequence starting in Austin, Texas on Oct 20, followed by another final triple-header of Las Vegas-Qatar-Abu Dhabi.
“I think we’ve got a vein of development and I think we’ve understood some of the issues with the car. I think we’re starting to address them,” Horner said after Verstappen finished a distant second to Norris in Singapore.
“We were better in Baku and (even) better in Singapore.”
The Dutch driver finished fifth in Azerbaijan after sixth in Italy, a result that equalled Monaco in May as his worst of the season so far but could have been far worse.
Verstappen won all six of the remaining races last season, and Horner felt the team were on the right path despite McLaren taking a 41-point lead in the constructors’ standings.
“I think the encouraging thing was the car reacted as we hoped it would and what our tools were telling us,” he said of Singapore.
“I think the team are starting to get a direction and an understanding of where some of the limitations are and some of the causes of limitations. That opens up development paths and veins that hopefully will be productive.
“I think what Monza really exposed was perhaps some of the root cause, or helped to identify the root cause of the issue. So I’m taking Monza as the low point and we’re starting to build out of that.”
While McLaren believe the drivers’ championship is on, the mathematical reality is that Norris still has a mountain to climb. One retirement could blow the battle wide open, or kill it off, but the Briton will have to increase his scoring rate on current form.
With three sprint races adding to the available tally, there are a maximum 180 points still to be won.
Azerbaijan and Singapore were seen as circuits where Norris and McLaren could make big gains, and Ferrari looked more of a threat, but in the end Verstappen lost only 10 points to his rival.
In real terms, Norris is still almost as far from Verstappen as when he secured his first victory in Round 6 in Miami in May – a race that came after the Red Bull driver had won four of the first five, except retiring in Melbourne.
That victory lifted the Briton to 53 points behind.
There have been 12 races since and although Verstappen has not won since June, an eight-race losing streak, his lead has remained stubbornly healthy.
“Pretty pleased, but still a lot of work to do,” he said after the Singapore race. “We know that. Hopefully now we can really kick-start things.” REUTERS
