Red Bull to improve car as much as possible: 'Everything still on the line'

Christian Horner is satisfied with the race of Max Verstappen. He saw that Mercedes were clearly faster, but the Dutchman made the most of it. The Red Bull team boss is disappointed with the result of Sergio Perez.

"Today was a big day. I think Max's recovery on the first lap was stunning and his first two corners were sensational. Mercedes had a faster car today with Lewis, but we were able to come back in the second and third stints. We didn't get faster, but our straight-line speed was competitive today and the fact that Max set the fastest race lap before switching to softs was encouraging," Horner said on the Red Bull press release. 

Perez missed out on the podium. Because Red Bull didn't want to take any risks, he just didn't have enough laps left to challenge Fernando Alonso for the podium spot.

Two more big races this season

"Checo was unlucky not to finish on the podium today. I think without the Virtual Safety Car he could have been with Alonso on the last lap, but he drove great and delivered valuable points for the team. It's been a long time since Fernando Alonso was on the podium, so it was also nice to see him there", Horner continues.

"We are now just five points behind in the constructors' championship and eight points ahead in the drivers' championship, so we have two big races coming up and everything is still on the line. We are going to work hard next week and improve the car as much as possible and see what we can do in Jeddah."