Red Bull boss Christian Horner snaps back at 'defeatist' McLaren suggestion

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has hit back at suggestions his team might want to consider focusing on 2026 as this could be "a McLaren year".

Red Bull has delivered a car that even four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen has struggled with over the first two grands prix in Australia and China and which has forced Horner into making a driver change given Liam Lawson's woeful performances.

Despite the issues, Verstappen is second in the drivers' championship, eight points adrift of McLaren's Lando Norris. Red Bull, though, is already 42 points behind McLaren in the constructors' standings.

Asked by former F1 driver and Sky Sports F1 analyst Karun Chandhok whether Red Bull would correct the performance deficiencies of its car this year or say, "this is a McLaren year, we've got to get '26 right?', given the importance of focusing on the new rules for next year, Horner scoffed.

"It's race two! We can't be that defeatist! We're eight points behind in the drivers' championship after two races, and there's everything to play for," insisted Horner.

"If nothing else, what last year taught us is you can start as strong as you like. It's how you finish."

That was a reference to the fact Verstappen appeared to be coasting after winning four of the first five races and seven of the first 10 but only managed two further wins in the final 14 events as he staved off the threat of Norris.

Horner recognises, however, the performance of the RB21, which is struggling with balance issues, is proving a major handicap, and it is only Verstappen's skills that are dragging results out of it.

"We've got great strength in depth in our team," said Horner. "Everybody in our company knows we've got a bit of pace to find. We've got the tools, we've got the people to do that. It's just unpicking it.

"We got some very good data [from the Chinese GP]. Max is working harder than I've ever seen him. He's more integrated into the engineering group than I've ever seen.

"As he said, he seems to be enjoying that aspect, so he's not getting super-stressed.

"Of course, like any driver, he's impatient for performance but he's working with the engineers to say, 'Okay, what about this? This is what I'm experiencing as a driver. This is where I need the lap time'.

"And that's the only way, collectively, we're going to get performance."