Christian Horner highlights where Red Bull are most proud with the RB19

Christian Horner has confirmed pre-season rumours Red Bull’s RB19 is down to the weight limit, the team boss impressed with the work carried out by the team to shed a few kilograms.

Prior to the first race of the 2022 season, Red Bull’s RB18 was said to be overweight by double digits with motorsport advisor Helmut Marko revealing the only upgrades they brought to the car all season were ones designed to be lighter.

Despite still being a few kilograms overweight at the very last race of the championship, Red Bull romped almost unchallenged to the double.

This season, intent on repeating that success, they’ve brought a lighter RB19 to the track.

“I think that the weight loss that it’s had is impressive,” team boss Horner told the media including PlanetF1.com.

“At times last year, we were running up to 10kg overweight. So, I think the whole team have done a great job to get down to the limit.

“But Formula 1 is constant evolution. It’s constantly refining and developing all elements.

“Look, RB18 was a great car but obviously regulation changes over the winter, the revision to the aero rules, they throw in some curveballs.

“So, you never quite know, have we done enough? Have we adapted enough?

“It’s only when you see the other cars and then you start to see the lap times come in, that you start to form a picture. But really the first litmus test is here, at the first race.”

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Red Bull didn’t need to gamble with their 2023 car such was last year’s RB18’s superior pace to the chasing packing, making the RB19 very much an evolution, not a revolution.

It’s a car that Horner says will suit both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, good news for the latter who felt last year’s upgrades favoured his team-mate.

“The feedback from the drivers,” Horner said, “they both got out the car after their stint in testing happy with the balance that they had.

“So, you know, the circuit has changed a little bit in the last few days, since we were here last, in terms of characteristics of the handling that just need tuning into the conditions on the day.

“We’ve got more and different cars running around and stuff like that now, so that’s what they’re embedded in now, with their engineers working on fine tuning.”

It was in fact Perez who claimed the season’s first P1 as he set the pace in Friday’s practice before finishing third fastest into the second session, 0.002s behind Verstappen.

Horner was asked what the Mexican driver needs to change in order to fight his team-mate for this year’s World title. He replied: “His lap time.

“Look, you know, Max is a hell of a competitor and he’s a tough… probably the highest benchmark in Formula 1. But Checo is now in his third year in the team, he’s confident, he’s comfortable and he’s got to be on his A-game. And not just with Max.

“It’s, you know, Fred’s drivers are pushing each other hard, Mercedes’ drivers are hard, we’ve got what looks like a pretty motivated veteran in a green car as well, so it’s going to be a really exciting year and I think there’s going to be some great racing ahead of us.”