Max is currently 19 points behind Leclerc in the standings, with Red Bull six points behind Ferrari in the constructors' title.
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Max Verstappen won his second race in a row in Miami, taking the lead from Charles Leclerc. The incumbent champion is currently 19 points behind his challenger in the standings, with Red Bull six points behind Ferrari in the constructors’ title. Despite his team’s progress, weight reduction is a top objective for the engineers. The Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has laid out his major ambitions for improving the squad’s RB18 challenger, stating that the team is trying to drop kilograms off the vehicle as he compared its capabilities against the Ferrari F1-75.
He brought to notice how quickly things can change at Imola, and he believes they have some intriguing races coming up. The vehicle is in good condition. They expect to have other developments later this summer that will assist them as well but there is a need to lose a little weight. “You can always improve everywhere,” he added. “We need to improve the slow [corner] stuff, we need to lose a couple of kilos off the car; tyre deg is then the result of weight so it’s all those little incremental gains that you’re always chasing,” he explained.
“You saw in Imola how quickly things can move around and I think we’ve got some interesting races coming up. The car’s running well. We’ve got some developments coming hopefully later in the summer that will help as well. We need to save a little bit of weight.” he added
Concerning dependability, Horner told supporters that the “frustrating” engine problems will be resolved shortly, despite Verstappen retiring twice this season and Sergio Perez retiring once. Horner mentioned that they are working closely with HRC [Honda Racing Corporation]. “I don’t think the car is particularly fragile, I just think there have been niggly things that you’ve normally seen in pre-season testing that have only reared their head now. So that is frustrating, but we are working closely with HRC [Honda Racing Corporation] and they are giving us great support, and we’ll get those things figured out.” Horner added.
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Horner predicted that the edge will shift to Ferrari as the Barcelona circuit’s number of middle and high-speed curves, looking ahead to the Spanish Grand Prix. He added that it will be a whole new challenge with high-speed corners and Ferrari are strong in that area.“It’s been nip-and-tuck and Barcelona is a whole new challenge, high-speed corners, and we know that Ferrari are strong in that area. It’s horses for courses and this circuit [Miami] suited us, we were able to make it work and get the result,” he said.
Given the escalating costs of making components, Horner described the development battle as brutal. “With a budget cap this year it’s very hard to bring continuous development. You’ve got to pick when you want to introduce your components, because especially with inflation the way it is, that’s brutal.”
