Horner issues Verstappen title warning

Christian Horner has stated that "nothing can be taken for granted" in Max Verstappen's fight to retain the F1 drivers' championship.

The Dutchman currently holds a 76-point advantage over Lando Norris, who is quickly becoming the 26-year-old's closest rival on track, despite their strong relationship off it.

With the McLaren driver taking over second in the drivers' standings, after Sergio Perez and later Charles Leclerc occupied that position, Verstappen had been able to grow his advantage over Norris to 84 points following the British Grand Prix.

However, Horner knows how quickly the situation can change. After dominating the opening rounds of the season - in much the way it did in 2023 - Red Bull has been more closely fought by Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes since.

There are 11 rounds still to run, and the Red Bull team principal is "acutely aware" of how quickly championship leads can be eradicated.

"We're just going to develop the fastest car we can, and that's what we'll continue to do," the 50-year-old told media including RacingNews365.

"The drivers' championship, obviously Max [Verstappen] has a good lead - and that I can diminish very quickly, so nothing can be taken for granted.

"In the constructors' championship, 51 points can diminish very quickly, so we're acutely aware of that and determined to make sure we start having bigger points scoring weekends.

Red Bull needs to expand RB20's operating window

McLaren has emerged as the main competition to Red Bull's supremacy. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Woking team enjoyed just its second one-two finish in the past decade.

The Papaya squad is on the up, supported by well-implemented updates that started on the weekend it won its first grand prix of the season - in Miami. 

The team has been able to develop a car to match the Red Bull RB20 - with a greater operating window providing an advantage.

Red Bull did bring its own raft of upgrades to the Hungaroring, but they were not as well received as hoped. Verstappen will critical of their effectiveness and it failed to provide the Milton Keynes outfit with the strongest car in Budapest.

"I think that we've got more performance to bring from them [Red Bull's latest upgrades] to be honest," said Horner when assessing the new parts. "I think we need to expand that operating window for the car.

"When the car is in the right window it qualifies on pole by four-tenths [of a second] in Austria. And then, obviously [in Hungary] we missed the pole by less than a tenth.

"When you listen to the driver, he's got limitations in the car, that he knows is where the performance [is]. The trick is, obviously, how you translate those issues into solutions."