Red Bull penalty forces change of focus

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has confirmed the team is now shifting focus towards next season to overcome the effects of its budget cap breach penalty after dominating the first half of the current campaign.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit is currently on an unbeaten run having won all 12 races so far this season, with Max Verstappen also on a winning streak of eight races in a row.

Questions have been asked over whether the team can break a longstanding win record held by McLaren, which came within one race of securing each victory in the 1988 season - missing out only at Monza.

But with circumstances dictating a shift in vision to next season, Horner told media including RacingNews365.com: "With the handicap that we have, we have to really swing our focus over to next year.

"Because we have a significant deficit in wind tunnel time compared to our competitors and we have to be very selective how we use it."

Red Bull not fussed about RB19 updates

Red Bull was hit with a $7 million fine and a 10 per cent reduction in its aerodynamic testing allocation for breaching the 2021 cost cap, which Horner has previously said affects the daily decisions in the team.

It was expected that this would impact their form towards the end of the year, while others are free to use their remaining aero testing time to catch up.

But with the team's current advantage comfortably over 20 seconds per race to the next non-Red Bull car, the team has not felt the need to bring any significant updates to the RB19.

"We'll have a few circuit-specific things but nothing that hasn't been done already - if you'd like - more committed through further research and development," said Horner.