Formula 1 Today: Red Bull Faces Uphill Battle to Match McLaren’s Pace in Brazil
As the Formula 1 paddock gears up for the Brazilian Grand Prix, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has identified the team’s biggest challenge: matching McLaren’s impressive end-of-stint pace. Horner believes that this is the key to unlocking success in Brazil, following a lackluster performance in Mexico last weekend.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have consistently demonstrated exceptional tyre management skills, often holding back early in races to conserve their tyres and then pushing hard towards the end. This strategy has allowed them to outperform their rivals and snatch valuable points.
In Mexico, Norris’s impressive late-race charge helped him clinch second place, reducing Max Verstappen’s lead in the Formula 1 standings. Verstappen, meanwhile, struggled with tyre grip across both the medium and hard stints, citing a lack of traction as the reason for his inability to recover to the top five after receiving two 10-second penalties.
“I think that is the biggest thing that we need to take away from here. More so on the hard tyre, we just didn’t have the same pace. Max had no grip, we didn’t feel we could switch the tyres on. So that’s the biggest challenge in the next four days, to understand what caused that.”
— Christian Horner
Horner acknowledged that Brazil presents a unique challenge, but he’s concerned about Red Bull’s pattern of struggling towards the end of grands prix. “It’s a pattern that particularly at the end of stints, you see the McLaren is very strong – particularly at the end of grands prix.”
The result of the Mexican Grand Prix has seen Ferrari leapfrog Red Bull into second place in the constructors’ standings, with Carlos Sainz’s victory and Charles Leclerc’s third place contributing to the Scuderia’s strong haul. Horner conceded that Red Bull faces an uphill battle to reclaim second place, saying, “I think it will be very difficult. We never give up. We’ll fight very hard. We need both cars, obviously, scoring.”
With the Formula 1 calendar entering its final stretch, every point counts. Red Bull will need to overcome their tyre struggles and find a way to match McLaren’s pace if they hope to stay in the hunt for the constructors’ title. Will they be able to turn things around in Brazil? Stay tuned to find out.
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