Horner has unpleasant news for Verstappen and his Red Bull team

13:50, 05 May

byKada Sarkozi

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner expects it will be difficult for his team to beat McLaren for the foreseeable future, which is undoubtedly not the message Max Verstappen would like to hear.

Verstappen appeared resigned after a rather disappointing weekend at the Miami Grand Prix. After a mistake by the Red Bull pit crew in the Sprint that led to him not scoring any points, after dragging the RB21 to pole position, he was defeated by the superior McLarens on Sunday.

The Dutchman finished in P4, after George Russell jumped him with completing his pit stop under VSC, and he crossed the finish line nearly 40 seconds behind Oscar Piastri.

McLaren hardly beatable by Red Bull

So far this season, only in Suzuka did Red Bull manage to keep the McLarens behind after Verstappen claimed pole position. With their issues with the balance and McLaren's tyre management on Sundays, Horner does expect a shift in power over the coming weeks.

"We're back into Europe. Different types of circuit, different nature of circuit. McLaren have got the car to beat at the moment, that's quite clear. So they're going to be tough to beat over the next few races," the Briton began to GPblog among others.

Horner sees new floor as an upgrade

The Austrians arrived to the United States with changes to their floor. While Verstappen was not overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the updated, Horner was more positive.

"I think it's delivered a characteristic that we were looking for. And it's part of a sequence of parts that will be introduced over coming races."

Earlier this last week, Horner already said that no larger update package will be presented by Red Bull for the weekend in Imola, which will take place in two weeks time.

This article was written in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen