Norris only quicker in one corner when Verstappen was pushing

Red Bull had McLaren covered despite the pace Lando Norris showed during parts of the Spanish Grand Prix, says team principal Christian Horner.

Max Verstappen won today’s race by 2.2 seconds from the McLaren driver. Norris started from pole position but lost his advantage over Verstappen at the start, then took over half a second per lap out of him at times during the race as he tried to catch him.

However once Norris had a clear run at the Red Bull in the final stint, Verstappen’s race engineer told him to push flat out and the gap between the two drivers stabilised. Horner said they were confident they were quick enough to out-run the McLaren.

“We felt at that stage that he’d done such a good job in managing the tyres, there was only one corner that we could see that Lando was quicker, which was in turn one, and the rest of the lap he had it covered,” Horner told Sky. “So it was always going to get closer because of that offset in pit stops. But we always felt confident from the tools that we had that he had enough in hand.”

Red Bull introduced an upgrade for their car this weekend, unlike McLaren, though Horner said it’s becoming more difficult to make gains in the third year under the current rules.

“What you’re seeing now is work that’s been going on over the last few months and there’s more in the pipeline,” he said. “But of course you’re into diminishing returns and it’s really incremental.

“On Friday we looked like we were probably fourth-quickest car, but the engineering team did a great job over the weekend, they managed to turn it around.

“We came two hundredths from pole and then obviously managed to get the race win today. But we’re very aware that we need to keep bringing performance to the car.”

Red Bull’s seventh win this year keeps the team 60 points ahead in the constructors’ championship. However Horner is aware of the growing threat from their rivals in recent races.

“I think since Miami, Lando has been probably the most stand-out competitor, and we’ve had to be at the top of our game to be winning these races. They’re tight wins but we keep winning, which is the most important thing.

“McLaren are doing a great job and Ferrari aren’t far away, Mercedes have made progress as well, but we’re just keeping our nose ahead and it’s important that we keep pushing because there’s still a long, long way to go.”

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