Red Bull must deliver on ALL circuits to beat Mercedes - Horner

Christian Horner said Red Bull has essential work to do over the winter to make its car work on every type of circuit if it is to challenge Mercedes’ dominance next year.

Red Bull signed off the high intensity 17-race season with victory in Abu Dhabi and finished as the 'best of the rest' behind seven-time consecutive champions Mercedes.

However, despite two wins and 11 other podium finishes, Horner believes that tuning the car for each particular circuit is an area in which the team has been lacking this season.

“We need a car that performs at a whole variance of circuits, which is what Mercedes have been good at producing,” concluded Horner when asked what had been the difference between the two teams in 2020.

“That’s where we need to be strong next year. We need to be strong at all types of circuit, and I think that particularly at a circuit like Abu Dhabi, to take that kind of performance into the winter is very encouraging.”

Horner added that if the planned 23-race calendar goes ahead for 2021 it will provide a much greater variety of circuits compared to this year, including street tracks and races in a much larger range of climates.

Aerodynamic performance is a significant factor in managing circuit differences and Horner believes the team has managed to dial out a lot of the problems the team started off with in this area on the RB16 this season.

“I think we’ve improved the car significantly,” he said. “We’ve understood where those issues are and I think hopefully that can be further addressed as we go into next year.”

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