Horner would ‘rather fix a fast car than make a slow one fast’

Michelle Foster
Max Verstappen looking at his RB18 after retiring the car. Australia April 2022

Max Verstappen looking at his RB18, which is covered in fire retardant, after retiring the car. Australia April 2022

Only finishing half the number of races they have started this year, Christian Horner insists he would rather Red Bull try to “fix a fast car” than make a slow one quick.

Red Bull’s RB18 is a fast car, but also a very unreliable one.

In three races, Max Verstappen has twice retired while running in second place while the only race he has finished, in Saudi Arabia, he won.

His team-mate Sergio Perez has also been bitten by the unreliability bug, the Mexican driver failing to finish the Bahrain Grand Prix.

It is a big problem for Red Bull as Perez is 41 points off the pace in the Drivers’ Championship and Verstappen a further five adrift.

The Constructors’ is not looking much better, Red Bull with just 55 points, 49 behind Ferrari.

Horner is trying to find the silver lining.

He told The Race: “I’d rather fix a fast car than try to make a reliable and slow one fast.”

But while that is a nice sentiment, what it is not is turning that pace into points.

Red Bull have three DNFs already this season with AlphaTauri also having engine-related issues in their Red Bull-branded Honda power unit.

Horner says they have all been unrelated issues.

“None of them have been related, so obviously need to understand those and address them quickly,” said the Briton.

But he is not giving up hope – after all, there are still 19, probably 20, races to be run this season.

“Even on a day when we weren’t as quick as Ferrari, we had a guaranteed second place in the first two races,” he said.

“With Max we’ve given up 36 points for the team, and for the team [overall] 50 points.

 

“When you look at that, both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championship would be a lot different.

“There’s still a huge percentage of the championship to run but we need to get on top of the issues quickly.”

 

'Frustrating and unacceptable' race for Verstappen

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