Christian Horner positioned on the Red Bull pit wall.
Christian Horner has rubbished James Allison’s claim Red Bull’s latest upgrade for the RB20 was a “downgrade”, the team boss adamant every new part that’s been put on the car this season has “earned their place”.
Red Bull had an impressive start to this year’s championship, winning four out of five races and securing three 1-2 finishes. However, McLaren made significant improvements to their car in Miami, and Ferrari did the same in Imola. In contrast, according to Mercedes technical director Allison, Red Bull made a “downgrade” to their RB20.
Christian Horner denies correlation and downgrade rumours
Since Miami, where McLaren kicked off the first round of big upgrades with every one of the team making changes to their cars in the following races, Red Bull are 1-2 in the win-loss stats.
Lando Norris emerged victorious at the Miami Grand Prix, Max Verstappen clinched a nail-biting victory at Imola with a margin of less than a second, and Charles Leclerc took the top spot at the Monaco Grand Prix.
It had Allison telling the media in Montreal: “I guess as soon as there’s a decent range of cornering speeds, they’ll be useful again, but it does look as if their upgrade was a downgrade.
“Hopefully, that would truly disrupt their plans.”
Allison’s response followed after Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko addressed the challenges faced by Red Bull due to the kerbs and the rough surface of the Monte Carlo street circuit, discussing correlation issues.
However, Horner has dismissed any speculation about downgrades or correlation issues.
“He told Sky F1 in Montreal that there is no way the updates on the car are not justified. Despite rumors that circulate, all the updates have been successful and deserving of their place on the car.”
“We now witness a significant convergence of cars resembling ours, indicating a thriving competition, which I believe is beneficial.”
In order to stay ahead and ensure everyone in the team is successful, we need to consistently perform at our best. What we accomplished last year was extraordinary, but it was inevitable that competition would increase and converge with time.
Every team member is fully conscious of this and exerting immense efforts to ensure our continuous advancement, surpassing others.
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Red Bull boss on ‘convergence’ and ‘issues’
According to Horner, Mercedes is not the main concern for Red Bull, despite George Russell setting the same time as Verstappen during final practice and grabbing pole position by clocking it before Verstappen.
“They were fast,” he remarked. “They consistently appear swift on green tracks, and with the recent resurfacing of this circuit, it is perfectly suited to their abilities.”
“I believe our attention will likely be more on the Ferraris and McLarens throughout the season, rather than the Mercedes. However, let’s observe how everything unfolds.”
Horner commented, “Clearly, we are still in the process of understanding the car. It is evident that Ferrari, McLaren, and even Mercedes have shown improvement and are looking competitive this weekend.”
“We acknowledge the presence of certain problems that require our attention, while also recognizing the success we have achieved with four wins this year. Despite our accomplishments, we understand that there is still a significant amount of work ahead of us.”
When asked about the RB20’s peakiness, Horner responded, “I believe that the drivers have been facing difficulties with the car’s ability to handle bumps and hitting them hard. This issue might have also been present in last year’s car.”
In my opinion, there has been a slight improvement with this year’s car. However, due to the increased speed of all the cars, we are exerting more pressure on the aerodynamics, resulting in the cars running with a significantly stiffer feel.
You can witness the intensity of their attacks on the kerbs, reflecting the level of violence involved.
“We are currently dedicating our efforts towards addressing this matter. Numerous projects are underway at our factory in the UK, as we recognize the potential for improved performance once we overcome the challenge of kerb riding.”
“Monaco served as a wake-up call, highlighting the fact that the circuits where we have excelled this year have been relatively smooth, lacking significant kerbs.”
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