Christian Horner acknowledges Red Bull pressure “to turn it around”, thanks Ferrari’s helping hand in battle with McLaren

Christian Horner acknowledged that Red Bull is under immense pressure to turn around their performance issues after the 2024 Italian GP. Speaking to media including Sportskeeda, the Briton claimed Ferrari and McLaren helped them lose fewer points in Monza or it could have been worse.

Charles Leclerc winning the race and denying McLaren the win helped Red Bull and Max Verstappen in the driver’s championship, where they could have lost many points. The McLaren drivers battling each other further helped the reigning champions with Oscar Piastri finishing second and Lando Norris finishing third.

In the constructors championship, the margin is down to eight points whereas in the driver’s championship, there is still a gap of 60 points. The reigning triple champion finished sixth and Sergio Perez finished eighth. Horner claimed the Monza circuit might have exposed their car’s Achilles heel more than other circuits on the calendar.

Both Red Bull drivers complained about balance issues throughout the weekend. With the upcoming Baku and Singapore races being street circuits featuring a layout that might not suit Red Bull, turning around their performance woes in the two-week break is going to be critical.

Asked by Sportskeeda how much pressure Red Bull is under going into the next two rounds given the diminishing margins, Horner replied:

“Of course we are under pressure to turn it around and nobody puts ourselves under more pressure than ourselves. Because finishing sixth hurts. The reality was Ferrari helped us out a little bit today as you know the fighting between the two McLaren drivers. Otherwise the driver's championship you know there could have been another chunk of points taken out of us.”

Asked what he thought about their performance throughout the Italian GP weekend, the Red Bull team CEO said:

“With the pace that we had today, you know, both championships absolutely will be under pressure for sure, so we have to turn the situation around very quickly. I think this circuit has exposed the deficiencies that we have in the car versus last year. And I think that we have a very clear issue which was highlighted this weekend that we know we have to get on top of and address. Otherwise you know we put ourselves under massive pressure.”

---

Christian Horner reckons Monza exposed Red Bull's weakness more than any other circuit on the calendar

Christian Horner claimed that running more downforce on the car at other circuits hid its balance issues, adding that Monza exposed the RB20’s weakness. The Red Bull Racing CEO mused there was a disconnect between the front and rear of the car which was creating a lot of understeer.

Horner felt that optimizing the car in its limited operating window allowed Verstappen to be quick, as seen in Q2 where his lap times were in the 1 minute 19-second bracket. However, when the balance was not there, the Dutch champion’s lap times were only good enough to qualify him seventh on the grid.

Asked why Monza exposed their weakness more than any other circuit, the Red Bull Racing CEO explained:

“I think on others perhaps running more down force and perhaps hide some of the balance issues that we have and you can see that we've got a disconnection, imbalance that just isn't working. And then as soon as you end up in that situation, you're harder on tyres, you end up compensating. You move the balance around, you secure one problem, you create another, so you just end up in a vicious circle.”

Explaining the primary issue that has dropped Red Bull outside the top five points finishing spots, Horner said:

“I think it's more balance. I think 100 % is balance. We haven't got a connection between front and rear. I think Max can't lean on the rear on the way into the corner or Checo. And I think you then end up compensating for that. Then you create understeer. And it's on such a fine line. And you can see it in qualifying. You know, on a scrubbed tire with a balance, we could do a 19.6 that matched the best times. Then we put two new sets of tires on. The balance is then completely out and we go four and a half tenths slower.”

In the constructors championship, the margins between Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari are small and could diminish easily given the three sprint format race weekends in the mix in the remaining eight rounds on the calendar. The Milton Keynes squad is eight points ahead of the Woking-based team but the Prancing Horse is only 31 points behind the McLaren and 39 points behind the reigning champions.

The circuits in Baku and Singapore could suit McLaren and Ferrari which makes it a race against time for the 2023 world champions to turn around their performance.