"It’s absolutely negligible"- Red Bull not suffering this season despite making 'compromises' due to budget cap

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has said that the cost cap has not pushed the team to make compromises with their two cars.

Horner earlier said that the latest version of the floor was used by Max Verstappen but wasn't put on Sergio Perez's car because of budget cap constraints. In the last few races, Perez has found it difficult to match his teammate during the weekend.

When asked whether if that was because of the different iterations of floors the two drivers are using, Horner replied in the negative. Horner said that the difference between the two floors is negligible, maybe a tenth or so. He said:

“It’s very, very negligible.I think we predicted it to be circa less than a tenth of a second. And of course, we are at that time of the year when the budget cap kicks in; we have to look at the amount of spares we are carrying to enable both drivers to have a new floor in future races."

He added:

"That’s the kind of compromises we are having to make, but in terms of performance, it’s absolutely negligible, and what he misses out on the floor, he gains in other elements so it tends to get itself evened out, whether that’s a slight bit of weight and so on, to compensate.”

Red Bull will eye their fifth straight win at the Italian GP in Monza this weekend.

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It will be a really exciting race on Sunday: Red Bull boss

Looking back at a productive day, the Red Bull boss talked about how Verstappen was able to find his groove early, while Sergio Perez struggled.

With both drivers taking grid penalties, Horner foresees an interesting race on Sunday. He said:

“We’ve had a reasonable day. Everybody’s very quietly gone about their job, and we’ve tested the different tyres, different downforce levels. Max certainly found a balance he’s pretty happy with."

He continued:

"I think Checo is getting closer and closer to that now, so lots to look at this evening. We’ve obviously got penalties to take with both cars, which will put us a bit out of sync, but it will create a really exciting race on Sunday.”

Verstappen is on the cusp of equalling two of Lewis Hamilton's career records. If he wins the Italian GP, he will match the best win streak of Hamilton's career (5) and also match the Briton's tally of most wins in a season (11).