Horner gives Verstappen a chance: "Are still an outsider"

Despite the fact that Red Bull Racing only managed to win one of the first six Grands Prix, the Austrian racing team believes it is in better shape than it has been in recent seasons. Christian Horner further states that Max Verstappen is still an outsider for the battle for the 2020 World Championship.

"Yes, I think so", responds Horner in the podcast F1 Nation when confronted with his earlier statement that Red Bull had run "the best preparation in years". The 46-year-old Briton then explains why he believes so. "In the past we've won races thanks to our strategy or by taking advantage of an 'off-day' at Mercedes, but if you look at Silverstone: there we just won on our own strength".

The Milton Keynes-based formation wants to close the gap to the dominant rival Mercedes as soon as possible. Red Bull hasn't given up on 2020 yet. "No, we first have to wait and see how the ban on different engine settings works out and we have to keep improving ourselves with our own car. We are now fully focused on that, all the more so because this car (due to the limited further development) will also be the starting point for next year", he explains. A title this season isn't entirely out of the question. "We are still an outsider. We have a long way to go, but we still have a chance".

Few changes at engineering department

In recent years Red Bull has been unable to get close to Mercedes. It's certainly not the engineering department's fault, because according to Horner, the team now largely corresponds to the team that dominated with Sebastian Vettel between 2010-2013 by grabbing four world titles in a row. "We've of course strengthened ourselves here and there, but I can still mainly see the same faces as back then. All those people are very motivated to get into a title fight again and are doing everything they can".