Sunday’s F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix saw Red Bull Racing slip to 2nd in this season’s F1 Constructors’ Championship behind the new leader McLaren. Consequently, team boss Christian Horner says that with a 20-point deficit and still 7 races remaining – his team must attack.
This year’s Grand Prix on the streets of Baku looked set to be an opportunity for Red Bull Racing to bounce back after Championship leader Max Verstappen outqualified his closest rival. The Dutchman started P6 compared to Norris who was back in P15 having failed to make it out of qualifying 1 but gained a grid position on race day after Lewis Hamilton’s pit lane start. Instead, by the time the chequered flag, Verstappen would finish P5 with Norris ahead in P4 which, coupled with a fastest lap bonus point, meant the Brit gained four points on the 3-time F1 Drivers’ Champion in the standings.
Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner was asked how confident he is when it comes to being able to fight on both fronts. A task which has been made all the more challenging after a well publicised DNF to Sergio Perez in the final lap of the race.
“We took a big hit in the Constructors’ today, but we’ve got a 20 points deficit now.” admitted Horner. “So, we’ve got to attack. We’ve still got seven races to go, two sprint races to go. There’s a lot of points up for grabs and a lot of different circuits coming up. So, it’s far from over.”
Red Bull Racing’s situation could have been even worse had McLaren agreed earlier on within their own ranks that Lando Norris was their number one driver. This mindset is a point which the Woking-based manufacturer made clear is now the case in press conferences prior to the race weekend.
This topic had come up in several press conferences with journalists asking other teams to comment. Whereas Ferrari team boss said on the issue: “Honestly, I’m focused on my guys, and I don’t care about the team orders between Norris and Piastri, they do whatever they want to do.” Horner, though had much more to say on the matter when asked if McLaren’s team orders call is too premature, too late or should even be so open in the media.
“Usually they’re things that are dealt with behind closed doors, those things, so I’m not actually sure what those rules are.” Horner said. “There still seems some confusion in them.”
With that being said, the man steering the ship at Red Bull Racing was then asked as to whether McLaren’s action changes anything for his team’s own approach.
“No, look, every team is different.” stated Horner “Our rules of engagement are very clear and what the focus to the end of the year is. We’ve got a driver that’s fighting for a world championship. It’s a team sport. So, it’s very clear that Checo’s job is there to support Max to the end of the year.”
Horner didn’t stop there as although he made clear that different teams operate different ways, he clearly felt that McLaren’s Lando Noris had been the team’s number one driver for some time.
“When you’ve got an asset like Max Verstappen, you don’t make him a number two driver. Lando Noris is – they’re paying him five times what they paid Oscar – so, I would assume that he would be their number one driver, or their biggest asset. The confusion comes when you’re not up front from the beginning of what your plans are. I think the other one’s causing them headaches because he’s winning races and he’s doing a very good job.”
However, history has shown that even when a team tries to label drivers in such a way, the outcome does not necessarily go as planned. Horner admitted as much in his remarks which also saw him recall his own headaches.
“It was like when Daniel Ricciardo came to us, he was clearly supposed to be the number two to Sebastian Vettel. And he won three races that year to Sebastian’s none. Sometimes it causes you a headache like that. For sure, they took Oscar with the expectation, as Mercedes did with probably George [Russell] and Ferrari did with Carlos [Sainz], you got a prime asset and a support asset. And of course when the second driver starts outperforming the first driver, that’s when you tend to have a headache.”
Such a revelation resulted in Horner then being asked as to whether his team is always looking for a rear gunner as opposed to having two prime assets as surely two high performers would be a good problem to have.
“It is.” Horner agreed before continuing “but it becomes a very difficult problem to manage. Because you split the team and the rules of engagement become very difficult. Everybody knows probably who the number one and number two is, but if you’re not up front with the drivers, you end up with confusion. So, I think going into a race, into any race, obviously at the beginning of the season it’s all open. But certainly, when you get around the halfway point, you’ve got to pick a horse. Especially if you’re in a championship battle.”
Obviously, having qualified where they did, McLaren did not have to implement their team approach to favour Norris over Piastri. However, having been victorious in Baku, McLaren’s so-called number 2 driver is only 32 points behind his illustrious teammate and if Piastri’s form continues in Singapore then that could give McLaren even more of a headache.
As for Red Bull Racing, despite Sunday’s outcome there are clear positives to take from Baku. Perez was back in form and even in contention for victory and if the team can build on that in Singapore – a circuit with many similarities to Baku – then they have every reason to be competitive.
