Christian Horner has called on Red Bull to help Max Verstappen "keep in touch" with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the F1 drivers' championship fight.
The team principal of the Milton Keynes squad says it must improve the troublesome RB21 during the summer to provide the Dutchman with the foundation he needs to battle the McLaren pair.
Whilst the 27-year-old's deficit to the Australian driver has slumped to 49 points after his 10-second time penalty for ramming George Russell during the Spanish Grand Prix, he has been able to stay in the fight despite the MCL39 being far superior on most weekends.
That included stunning victories at Suzuka and Imola, and until the red mist descended at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, he had continued his penchant for maximising results, which was the backbone of this fourth drivers' championship campaign last year.
The late-race safety car in Spain scuppered Red Bull's aggressive three stop strategy. To that point, Verstappen was on course for at least third place and 15 points, if not more with Norris in his crosshairs.
Although, the Kimi Antonelli-induced intervention saw him headed for likely fifth place and just 10 points. That, however, would have been considerably better than the solitary point he picked up for P10.
Nonetheless, with 15 rounds to go, his championship aspirations are far from over, regardless of the 65-time grand prix winner writing off all hope.
When asked about his driver's glass half empty outlook, Horner looked at the situation from a more holistic perspective. In doing so, he gave his Red Bull team a call to arms.
"Well, look, we’ve got to make sure we keep in touch [with McLaren]," the 51-year-old Briton told media including RacingNews365.
"And to beat them, we’ve got to start taking points off them... They are the car to beat. They’ve got two strong drivers, and the car’s performing very well.
"So, it’s down to us to make improvements and get performance on the car over this summer part of the championship and make sure that we hang on to their coattails before the summer break and try and build a bit of momentum."
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Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding, as they discuss last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix! Max Verstappen's clash with George Russell is a major talking point this week, as is whether Lewis Hamilton has started to contemplate if he is still quick enough.
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