F1 chief Christian Horner reveals 'trust' issues causing Red Bull problems

Red Bull

Horner reveals 'trust' issues causing Red Bull problems

Red Bull have failed to win a race since the Spanish GP

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Wednesday 4 September 2024 08:27 Updated: 17:15

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Christian Horner has admitted that there are ‘trust’ issues at Red Bull as they investigate the weaknesses of the RB20.

Red Bull’s results have transformed significantly compared to 2023, where they won 21 out of 22 races with little coming in between Max Verstappen and a race victory.

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Fast-forward a year later, and Red Bull have struggled to step onto the podium at Spa and Monza, finishing nearly 38 seconds behind a victorious Charles Leclerc at the Italian Grand Prix.

The champions’ dip in performance has ensured McLaren are within striking distance in the constructors’ championship, with just eight points keeping Red Bull at the top.

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Lando Norris remains in contention for the drivers’ title, with a 62 point gap between him and Verstappen, a lead that could have dwindled further had Norris secured another victory.

Whilst a third place finish for his nearest championship rival should come as a relief to Verstappen, he left Monza with a pessimistic view of Red Bull’s situation.

The Dutchman went as far as to suggest that Red Bull would not win another race this season, as the team look to fix their issues for Baku.

Team boss Christian Horner was equally confused by their poor performance and suggested that they cannot ‘trust’ their wind tunnel when it comes to estimating their performance.

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“If you dig into it, I think there were some of these issues early in the year, even when we were winning races by 20 seconds,” Horner said at the Italian GP.

“Recent upgrades, whilst they’ve put load on the car. it’s disconnected front and rear. We can see that, our wind tunnel doesn’t say that, but the track says that.

“So it’s getting on top of that, because obviously, when you have that, it means you can’t trust your tools. Then you have to go back to track data and previous experience.”

Red Bull Max Verstappen Mercedes Christian Horner Charles Leclerc Adrian Newey