Horner: Red Bull ‘inevitable’ will be overtaken by F1 rivals

Christian Horner says it is “inevitable” that Red Bull’s lead over the Formula 1 field will continue to shrink following improvements made by rival teams.

At Miami and Imola, McLaren and Ferrari introduced significant improvements to their cars, with McLaren’s Lando Norris beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to victory at Miami – and coming within a second of a similar result at Imola.

The results raised hopes that Red Bull and Verstappen could challenge for the 2024 titles after the combination won 34 of 44 races in the first two seasons of the ground effects era, including 19 in 2023.

As the rules cycles reach a third season, Red Bull team principal Horner said he was “amazed” that Red Bull has been so far ahead for so long.

“It’s inevitable, we’re in the third year of these regulations, so it’s inevitable that you’ll get convergence,” Horner told media outlets including RacingNews365 gaps narrowing at the head of the peloton.

“It’s amazing that we’ve managed to stay ahead for so long, but as the cars converge in terms of look and shape, and therefore lap times, it’s inevitable that there will be strong competition.

“We expect that to be the case in Monaco, it’s a unique track on the calendar and of course it all comes down to this one lap (in qualifying).

“There is always pressure to improve and no one puts more pressure on themselves than within the team.

“We are converging and we are seeing different types of venues and different tire compounds as well, and I think the shape will vary from circuit to circuit.

Of the three leading teams, Red Bull is the only one to have so far not introduced a big upgrade package to its launch car, with Horner believing the development window was starting to close.

“We’re a little more iterative, so obviously we’ve brought in a few things here and there,” he said of the decision not to present a big package just yet.

“They did what they promised, but when you start to get to the top of the curve you get into a law of diminishing returns in terms of how much development earns its place on the car.

“Of course, with the cost cap, you have to be very selective when you introduce these upgrades.”