Red Bull Unfazed by 22-Second McLaren Statement: “It Doesn’t Scare Us”

Lando Norris dominated the Dutch GP last weekend, finishing 22 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen, who took P2. F1’s official social media account labeled the victory a ‘statement,’  something many agreed with. However, Red Bull boss Christian Horner remained unfazed by the performance gap between his team and McLaren.

Horner admitted that losing by such a large margin was not ideal. However, he also noted that progress could be made in F1 over a short period, as not too long ago, it was Red Bull that was easily coasting to race victories.

“..it doesn’t scare us in any way. It just focuses the mind that, okay, we need to turn this around. We need to get it right.”, Horner said.

Statement. Made. #F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/A1DNcwifGM

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 25, 2024

Red Bull never appeared to be in contention for a win at Zandvoort. Verstappen took the lead from Norris on lap one, but 16 laps later, the Briton overtook him and drove the rest of the Grand Prix unchallenged. Verstappen settled for P2 on a day when he couldn’t have done anything to stop Norris’ charge.

Horner added that Verstappen too, won races with 20+ second margins when everything was dialed in the right window for them, as it was for McLaren in the Netherlands on Sunday.

Additionally, the layout of Zandvoort suited McLaren well. Horner had expected the Woking-based team to have a strong race, which is why he wasn’t too concerned about the result.

Horner brings up Norris’ mistakes

McLaren introduced new upgrades to its car in Miami, and Norris won his first F1 Grand Prix shortly after. The British team then developed the fastest car on the track, but Norris was unable to secure a win in any of the subsequent nine races.

Highlighting this, Horner pointed out Norris’ 2024 win tally in relation to McLaren’s championship hopes. He told Sky Sports,

“We’re lucky that they underperformed in the early part of the year so we’ve got a 70-point buffer, but that can diminish pretty quickly. It’s remarkable that that’s only Lando’s second win in that car.”

At the same time, Horner admitted that Norris has been performing well under pressure. Now, it will be up to Red Bull to respond in the remaining nine races of the 2024 season.

Norris is currently 70 points behind Verstappen in the standings. Although this gives Verstappen a comfortable lead, he would aim to secure the title before the final stages of the season.

In the Constructors’, however, Red Bull won’t have it that easy. The gap is at just 30 points, and Red Bull could lose P1 to McLaren as early as the United States GP.