Horner after P2 in Dutch GP: 'Have to respond'

Published on 25 August 2024 by Niels Hendrix

Christian Horner, team principal and CEO of Oracle Red Bull Racing, said after Max Verstappen’s P2 in the Dutch Grand Prix: “Firstly, congratulations to McLaren and Lando, their car was in a different league today. We did everything we could and Max converted P2 into a lead at the start, but you could see he couldn’t compete with Lando’s pace. In hindsight the gamble we made with more downforce, following very little Friday running, perhaps wasn’t the best route.”

Horner added: “We need to understand where the deficit is to McLaren and how we can improve performance on our car, we have some idea and will work hard to do that. We are going to have to respond and I am confident we have the strength and depth to do that.”

“Max has a 70-point lead in the drivers’ championship but we have to keep scoring as a team and on the days we can’t win you have to finish second. So, we have plenty of work to do but we have learnt a lot of lessons this weekend that can be very valuable, we have tried some things on the car that we have good data from to assess. We need to make sure we use that; it is time to digest what happened here and try to bounce back in Monza.”