Red Bull boss Christian Horner has expressed that the pace advantage McLaren boasted with Lando Norris in Formula 1′s Singapore Grand Prix was “taking the piss”.
Norris proved to be untouchable on the Singapore streets as he delivered a masterclass outing with a dominant 20-second win imposed on title rival Max Verstappen.
The Briton, who had surrendered a place on his previous six times on pole position, retained the lead at the start and proceeded to lead all 62 laps to bag his third win.
However, Verstappen was able to separate the two McLaren drivers as he trailed home in a distant second place, marking his first podium since the Dutch Grand Prix.
Horner has professed that Red Bull would have welcomed that result heading into the weekend, but he has conceded that it must discover an answer to Norris’ speed.
“Look, first of all, you have to congratulate Lando and McLaren,” Horner told media including Motorsport Week.
“They had a very strong this weekend and it was particularly on the first stint. They were very quick.
“I think, on the Hard tyre we looked in better shape. But, of course, the gap is way too big by then at a track that, anyway, is very hard to overtake.
“So I think if you roll back the clock to Friday, on Friday night, I think if you’d have said qualify on the front row and take second place, a significant amount ahead of the rest of the field, I think we would have certainly taken that.
“But obviously, the gap to Lando was significant in the first part of the race, and we’ve now a month to work hard and try and bring some performance to the car in Austin.”
Horner staggered with McLaren’s race pace
Norris managed the gap during the opening exchanges, but McLaren’s wish to extend the margin to avoid the undercut threat saw him accelerate clear at a rapid rate.
“The gap was…that was taking the piss, although I shouldn’t say that in any capacity,” Horner quipped.
“So, yeah, I mean, the pace he had in hand on that tyre at that point in time was, you know, that point, we’ve conceded the race on pace, obviously.
“I mean, he touched the wall for the first time, then he touched it for the second time. But, you know, obviously, you know, they got away with it.
“So I actually think Max, he drove a very strong race today and that was what we had.
“When you consider where we were a couple of weeks ago, I think we have made some real progress and obviously we’ve got a lot of work to do before Austin.”
Red Bull take solace with second in Singapore
Horner believes that Red Bull can salvage some solace in that Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren struggled to make inroads on Verstappen once he got up into third.
“I think Lando was a step ahead, particularly on the Medium tyre,” he reiterated.
“On the Hard tyre it didn’t show as much, but on a Medium tyre, he was very, very quick today.
“But the rest of the field, I didn’t see a car that was quicker than Max.
“I thought Piastri had good duration to his stint on that Medium tyre.
“But then on the Hard tyre, it was an 18-second gap and it seemed to be static for a long period of time. I can’t remember what it finished as, but it was around that mark.”
