Red Bull Christian Horner snaps back at Mercedes 'downgrade' claim

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has snapped back at Mercedes director James Allison's claims that the team's upgrades have done a job contrary to what they were expected to. During the pre-race press conference of team personnel, Allison was questioned on how the reigning champions had been caught in terms of performance since the start of the season.

A brilliant designer himself, James Allison felt that Red Bull getting caught could certainly be traced back to the point where the team introduced its upgrades. According to the Mercedes director, Red Bull had introduced two major sets of upgrades in Imola and Japan. Contrary to expectations, the upgrades have done the opposite job and made the car worse.

These comments were brought to the attention of Red Bull's Christian Horner who shrugged off these suggestions and said that his team's downgrades have still helped the team win over Mercedes' upgrades.

As quoted by Autosport, the Red Bull team principal acknowledged that the battle at the front had certainly closed up as he said,

"Even with our downgrade, we managed to beat their upgrade. It was a rewarding race to win. The last couple of races have been more choppy waters for us, but we have still managed to win two out of the last three races. We had a pole in Imola, we managed to match the pole time here with a car that both drivers are feeling its deficiencies. So there is a lot of focus on that to see if we can improve that."

He added,

“We know there are circuits later in the year like Singapore where it [ride issues] could be a factor. But we really expect Ferrari, McLaren - and Mercedes who came into that window this weekend - to be competitive at every circuit. So I think despite having won six of the nine races - we are going to have to be top of our game to keep eking out a gap."

There is certainly evidence of Red Bull's advantage dwindling since the start of the season. It all began with the races in Bahrain and Jeddah, where Red Bull dominated. Then we had the race in Australia and the team lost to Ferrari. After two more wins in Japan and China, McLaren was the first team to surge as Lando Norris beat Max Verstappen to the line in Miami. Since then, it's been a close contest in every race and gone are the days of Red Bull dominance.

What had the Mercedes director said about Red Bull?

Mercedes technical director James Allison raised suspicion early in the Canadian GP when he pointed out how the car appeared to lose its advantages.

Allison explained how this was something that could prove to be a real issue. Once the simulator numbers are off, you have to find why that happens, and that eats into the time available to you. He said,

“It does look as if their upgrade was a downgrade. So, fingers crossed that would really mess them up. That [an upgrade not working] makes life hard, because the moment you stop trusting your tools, you have to backtrack, and you lose loads of time. Time is your biggest friend, losing it is your worst enemy."

Whether the upgrades have been downgraded or not, it does appear that the team is struggling big time to fend off the challenges of McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari. Max Verstappen has not been a runaway favorite in the last four races.

Whether the team has struggled with upgrades or something else is contentious, but we can't deny that the chasing pack has certainly closed up.