‘You have to have two cars scoring’ – Christian Horner assesses Red Bull’s chances of chasing down McLaren for the Teams’ title

“We have to have two cars in there, and even to compete for the Drivers’, you’ve got to have another car in play. It’s vitally important for the team to ensure that we have both drivers running as close to the front as we can.”

While Verstappen has finished second, third and fourth in the three scoring events from this season so far, Lawson is yet to get off the mark having crossed the line 14th in the Sprint and 15th in the Chinese Grand Prix – a result which became P12 following three disqualifications to cars ahead.

By contrast, McLaren have delivered two wins including a 1-2, a further podium in the Sprint and arguably would be further ahead if not for the late rainy spell in Australia that cost Piastri his chance of P2.

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Add Mercedes into the mix, with George Russell delivering two podiums from the first two Grands Prix while Kimi Antonelli has delivered points at every opportunity so far, and it is clear to see why the pressure might already be mounting on Red Bull.

“In the end there are 400 engineers in our team who are all trawling through the 600 sensors that are on the car, so there’s an awful lot of information that we have,” said Horner, when asked about turning things around.

In terms of inspiration, Red Bull need look no further than their rivals after McLaren’s improvements throughout 2024 saw them end the year with arguably the best car. Red Bull will be hoping to emulate that themselves in 2025 as the season goes on.