Horner Warns Red Bull Needs To Change Something About Their Driver Line-Up

Thursday, 17 October 2024 at 18:00

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said Red Bull needs to improve its line-up as it looks to battle the Hamilton-Leclerc and Norris-Piastri duos next year.

Although Max Verstappen leads the Drivers' Championship by 52 points, Red Bull is currently second in the Constructors' Championship, 41 points behind McLaren.

The team from Milton Keynes could even fall to third place in the Championship, as Ferrari is only 34 points behind. How is it possible?

While Max Verstappen hasn't finished worse than sixth throughout the whole season, his teammate Sergio Perez has struggled to adapt to some of the changes made to Red Bull's car, and he hasn't finished better than P7 in the last 12 Grand Prix races. Horner told Motorsport.com:

"We desperately need answers. When you look at our opponents, Ferrari will be strong next year, with [Lewis] Hamilton and [Charles] Leclerc. Plus McLaren with [Lando] Norris and [Oscar] Piastri is a strong line-up."

"We need to make sure that with both of our drivers, that there's not a big gap between them because you can't afford to have that."

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Former F1 driver Timo Glock recently pointed out that not having his teammate close is already putting Verstappen at a disadvantage in 2024.

While McLaren's Piastri might help Norris simply by finishing ahead of the Dutchman, Perez has not been in a position to fight for the podium for a long time (with the exception of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where he crashed with Carlos Sainz). The Mexican driver said ahead of the United States Grand Prix weekend:

"I have been training hard back home in Mexico and in regular touch with the team back in the UK."

"We are looking to come into Austin in a better place with the car. We have made some changes in the break, aimed at improving the pace and we will see how competitive we are in Austin."

"It being a Sprint race makes things a little tricky, because we have one practice session to get the car right before it counts but that’s where working as a team comes in and that’s what we excel at."