As Red Bull loses lead in Constructors' Championship to McLaren, Christian Horner insists the Austrian team will "throw everything at it".

While the update brought to Baku appeared to cure some of the RB20's recent handling issues, Max Verstappen's changes to his car ahead of qualifying and Sergio Perez' clash with Carlos Sainz meant the Austrian team left Azerbaijan with just 10 points, while Oscar Piastri's victory gave McLaren the lead in the battle for the constructors' title.

Not having been in this position since 2022, Horner warns that the gloves are off.

"Look, we're now not defending, we're chasing," he told reporters. "So it changes the dynamic again, and we're just going to throw everything at it.

"We've got 20 points as a deficit now, so we've got to attack," he added. "We've still got seven races to go, two sprint races to go. There's a lot of points up for grabs and a lot of different circuits coming up, so it's far from over.

"It's frustrating, particularly after where Lando qualified, that we didn't beat him today, but thankfully he hasn't scored big points," said the Briton of Verstappen's title rival.

Piastri's victory was widely lauded by the media, the same media who only two weeks ago were demanding team order in favour of the Australian's teammate.

Going into the weekend McLaren admitted that there would need to be "bias support" to Norris, and Horner believes that this could play in Red Bull's favour as it will create "confusion" and "headaches" within the Woking camp.

"Usually those things are dealt with behind closed doors," he said. "I'm not actually sure what those rules are. There still seems confusion.

"Every team is different," he continued. "Our rules of engagement are very clear and what the focus until the end of the year is. We've got a driver that's fighting for a world championship. It's a team sport. So it's very clear that Checo's job is to support Max until the end of the year.

"Different teams operate in different ways," he added. "But when you've got an asset like Max Verstappen, you don't make him a No. 2 driver.

"Lando Norris, they are paying five times what they pay Oscar, so I would assume that he would be their No. 1 driver, or the biggest asset. The confusion comes when you are not upfront from the beginning about what your plans are."

In the wake of Oscar Piastri's victory, Horner recalled fellow Australian Daniel Riccirdo's arrival at Red Bull and how his arrival caused problems for Sebastian Vettel.

"The other one is causing them headaches because he's winning races and he's doing a very good job," said Horner. "It was like when Daniel Ricciardo came to us, he was clearly supposed to be the No. 2 to Sebastian Vettel, and he won three races that year to Sebastian's none. Sometimes it causes you a headache like that.

"For sure they took Oscar with the expectation, as Mercedes probably did with George, and Ferrari probably did with Carlos, that you have a prime asset and a support asset. Of course when the second driver starts outperforming the first driver that's when you tend to have a headache.

"It becomes a very difficult problem to manage, because you split the team and the rules of engagement become very difficult. Everybody knows probably who the number one and two is, but if you're not up front with the drivers, you end up with confusion.

"At the beginning of the season obviously it's all open but certainly when you get to around the half-way point, you've got to pick a horse. Especially if you're in a championship battle."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Baku here.

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by ffracer, 19/09/2024 1:07

"@Spindoctor: Totally agree, I was thinking the same thing lolol! Christian Horner is a genius at deflecting - not even talking about the scandal - but I admire how he can dance, ready for anything. For example, the interview he did with Natalie Pinkham of SKY when she went into this tirade and was basically imploring him to replace Checo - I thought that she was so disrespectful - and he suddenly flipped the paradigm on her and immediately asked her who she would recommend... and she balked. Everyone knows that she's great friends with Daniel Riccardo and she wouldn't go there. It initially felt like he was roped into the interview, set more like a lynching - his - and he left the SKY women shellshocked... just amazing. "

"We've got to attack," admits Horner

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page