Red Bull encouraged by matching Ferrari pace at Silverstone

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says that he and his team are encouraged by the pace they showed at last weekend's British Grand Prix, where they kept up and challenged the Ferraris.

Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly fought with Ferrari duo Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc throughout the race, and following the Dutchman's win in Austria, Red Bull look in much better form.

Red Bull are 52 points behind Ferrari in the constructors' standings at the halfway stage of the season, and with Gasly's upturn in form, they could mount a charge against the Italians.

According to Crash.net, Horner said: “It’s really encouraging to be this close to Mercedes around this type of track.

“We know it is power-sensitive, and to be able to follow the Ferraris as closely as we were able to through Maggots, Becketts and Copse, Max was able to take some serious momentum behind the Ferraris there and that’s usually the sign of a pretty decent car.

Helmut Marko said earlier in the week that the new front wing played a part in their performance increase, and Horner agrees that the team have found something.

“I think we’ve definitely unlocked some potential from the car. The car has behaved very well at Silverstone in high-speed and low-speed, we’ve looked competitive.

“And for Max to be as close to the pole time as much as he was, even without the [engine] hesitations maybe would have got even closer, and then in the race we didn’t see his true pace because he spent it stuck behind a Ferrari for 99 percent of it.

“We’ve got confidence going to Hockenheim following the performance at Silverstone"