Christian Horner has claimed it is “impossible” for Max Verstappen to win this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix because McLaren’s car has such a big advantage. According to Red Bull boss Horner, Lando Norris and McLaren are benefiting more from the hot conditions at the Bahrain circuit.
And despite Red Bull successfully tweaking their car last weekend to earn Verstappen a surprise pole position, Horner is playing down hopes of the team successfully repeating the trick.
“We’ve got quite a bit to do tonight, I think,” Horner told Viaplay on Friday night following practice. “The McLarens look very, very quick. With Mercedes and Ferrari it all looks pretty close, but McLaren definitely look like they have a few tenths on the rest of the field.
“First of all, we’ve got to understand how we can improve what we have, which is mainly temperature-related, I think. It is impossible to repeat what he did last week over a single lap and then holding the cars behind for an entire grand prix. This is a track you can overtake at relatively easily, so a lot of work to do with the engineers tonight.”
Speaking to Motorsport.com, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko echoed Horner’s assessment of the situation in Bahrain. The Austrian said: “We are too slow and the tyres are becoming far too hot. It’s basically confirming what Max already said yesterday, that Bahrain will be a more difficult one for Red Bull.
“The main problem is the tyre temperature, which we can’t keep under control. And as soon as the temperature goes up, we are sliding, which makes it worse.
“Strangely enough, at one stage the tyre recovered and we were doing the same lap times as Lando, but that was only three or four laps out of 15. This track just doesn’t suit us and neither do these high temperatures.”
Norris leads Verstappen by a single point in the drivers standings entering the fourth race of the season following the Japanese Grand Prix.
But McLaren have a 36-point advantage over Mercedes in the constructors’ championship with Red Bull trailing by 50 and Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari outfit in fourth a further 26 behind.
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