Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner believes the marque’s one-lap deficiencies are hurting its prospects in race trim in Formula 1 this season.
Neither Daniel Ricciardo nor Max Verstappen have finished inside the top three on Saturday, twice qualifying fourth and fifth, and twice qualifying fifth and sixth respectively.
The team has also taken just a single pole position since Formula 1 in the hybrid era, achieved by Ricciardo in Monaco two years ago.
Horner reckons this deficit is having a negative impact on the team’s chances of taking on Mercedes and Ferrari in Grands Prix this year, with Red Bull’s rivals typically battling for pole, and lining up ahead on the grid.
“I think the key thing for us has been trying to increase competitiveness on a Saturday afternoon because grid position is so important,” he said.
“It puts so much pressure on the drivers in Q3, because they’re having to find even more performance because we don’t have the ability to go with our rivals’ engine modes
“Looking at the pace of the car [in Spain] it looked on a par with what Lewis [Hamilton] could do, particularly in the second half of the race.
“So the problem is when you are caught up in traffic you are damaging the car. When you are in clean air it is a lot easier to manage.”
Red Bull holds a lonely third in the Constructors’ Championship, 46 points behind Ferrari and 39 clear of Renault, but Horner says he is pleased with the team’s progress in 2018.
“I think we had a good car all year,” he said.
“We’ve had good strategies, the racing, the pit stops have been excellent. So, I see it as a… We’ll keep doing what we’re doing and hopefully the results will get stronger and stronger.”
