F1 News

Horner explains slow start to 2019

Horner explains slow start to 2019

22-07-2019 12:04
1

Christian Horner has shed some light on the reasons behind Red Bull's drop in performance at the start of the season, pointing towards the switch to Honda and some regulation changes.

Red Bull have made significant progress on their rivals at recent races which has seen Max Verstappen move to third in the Drivers' Championship. His win at the Austrian Grand Prix was a sign of the progress they have made since Melbourne.

At the start of the season, the Red Bulls were significantly off the pace and Horner explained the reasoning behind this.

"First of all, there was a significant change in the regulations in two fundamental areas on the chassis side, where the front wing was quite a big hit for us," Horner explained to the BBC.

"We had optimised the previous regulations by the point of 2018. We had a very, very strong car, and I think the front-wing change did hurt us probably more than most.

"A stiffer, different construction of tyre probably compounded things as well.

"2019 was always going to be a transitionary year from a partnership point of view with the engine. I would say, in the early races, perhaps the engine delivered more and we delivered less than we thought on the chassis.

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