Christian Horner says Red Bull has all to play for in the 2021 F1 season after their six wins in the first half despite some of the heavy shunts.
With six wins and 10 podiums for Red Bull, they are comfortably ahead of Mercedes in terms of wins, with the German manufacturer registering four alongside a total of 14 podiums. The non-scoring chart sits at five apiece among the two drivers.
But the difference is that Max Verstappen has had two non-scoring finishes to Lewis Hamilton’s one. The neck and neck situation is the reason why the gap between the two drivers is eight and the teams is 12 after 11 rounds in the 2021 F1 season.
Having looked solid until the Austrian round, Red Bull slipped a bit after their bad run in Silverstone and Hungaroring, but it isn’t deterring their morale going into the second half, as Horner says such events has only motivated them to push further.
“If you look at the first half of the year, we have six victories, the races we have lost is tyre explosion, taken out in two of them then, I think we have a lot to be positive about and the whole team is fully motivated,” said Horner.
“We are amid a couple of weeks off, getting recharged, to come out fighting for the second half [from Spa-Francorchamps onward]. It is sort of, there’s all to play for, there’s only few points difference. I think the second half will be epic and we are not giving up,” summed up Horner.
As Horner alluded to, not only Red Bull faced the challenges on-track in terms of retirements and troubles, they had to adjust to the new rear wing formula as well, alongside face new technical directives for their engine and pit stops.
Here’s Mercedes on finding pace in last two races
Here’s Adrian Newey on Red Bull banking on past close fights experience
Here’s Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly on future
Here’s Adrian Newey on intense off-track fight