Ahead of Monaco GP, Red Bull chief Christian Horner expects more challenge from McLaren

As Lando Norris put up a show at Imola last weekend Red Bull Racing’s team principal Christian Horner expects consistent challenge from McLaren in upcoming weeks. After Max Verstappen's thrilling victory in Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Horner expects more similar races. 

Notably, Red Bull has dominated the past two F1 seasons, but Horner has hinted that their pursuit of the title this year will not be a cakewalk. “You can’t take anything for granted, we certainly don’t. We’ve won five out of seven grands prix and two out of two sprints and seven out of seven poles, but the margins are fine, very fine,” says Horner in a media interaction at Imola. 

“In year three of these rules there is always going to be convergence and you can see that, the look of the cars is converging. You can see the performance is converging and we are going to see more races like today with very fine margins.”

How did McLaren challenge Red Bull?

McLaren introduced upgrades to their car in Miami two weeks ago, which helped them secure their first Grand Prix victory since 2021. While Horner anticipates a stronger challenge from the Woking-based team, he noted that recent tracks haven't favoured the strengths of Red Bull's RB20.

“I think that arguably over the last couple of races yes McLaren have been our main competitor. I’d say they have added performance to their car, the philosophy is very similar to our own, and you know they’ve made a step”, says Horner.

“So, we expect them to be competitive at all circuits, and there are certain circuits that play to our strengths and certain circuits that don’t. The last couple has been more if you like, circuits that haven’t played to the inherent strengths of the car.” Notably, McLaren might pose a huge threat at Monaco GP too as there is only one DRS zone and Verstappen has been slow at tight corners.