Christian Horner fires McLaren title warning after Red Bull upgrades

Christian Horner believes Red Bull is finally "building momentum" in the F1 title fight against McLaren after upgrades at Imola.

Red Bull won its second race of the season in the Emilia Romagna GP, with Max Verstappen defeating Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. 

Piastri leads Verstappen by 22 points in the drivers' standings, with the Dutchman within one race win of the Australian. 

Red Bull's RB21 has been a tricky car for the team to extract performance from, but upgrades delivered since Saudi Arabia and across Miami and Imola have put the car into a good performance window, according to Horner.

"We've managed to put some performance on the car and get the car into a better window, and as soon as you take away the sliding, you're able to manage the temperature a lot better," Horner told media including RacingNews365. 

"That is really encouraging. I mean, the McLarens on Friday [at Imola] looked very fast on the long runs, but to have the pace that we did in the race, I would say probably since Brazil last year, which was obviously a wet race, that's the first time I can remember in a long time, we've had the pace to really pull away and out deg the McLaren. 

"So that's very encouraging, and a great result for the effort that's gone in

"I think generally, we're getting more grip and a better understanding. 

"It's been a very positive weekend, and I think we're gaining, we're building a bit of momentum, which is important at this stage in the championship."