Horner reveals startling origin of Red Bull concerns

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has claimed Red Bull’s wrong turn in development originated early in the 2023 F1 campaign.

The Milton Keynes-based squad enjoyed a dominant campaign last year, winning 21 out of the 22 grands prix that took place.

It appeared on course for a similar campaign this season as it cruised to several wins in the opening stages of the year – however it has since slipped back in the pecking order and now sit behind McLaren in the constructors’ championship.

Red Bull has been searching for a fix to its downward spiral for some time and has not taken to the top step of the podium since the Spanish Grand Prix in June.

As it carries out a review of its shortcomings, Horner revealed its first error was made at last year’s round from Barcelona.

“We have traced the development history and it turned out that the first mistake happened to us with an underbody upgrade in Barcelona in 2023,” Horner told Auto Motor und Sport. 

“That was also the grand prix when Checo started to have problems with the car. We just didn’t take it so seriously because Max went on to win.”

Red Bull is targeting a return to form in Austin as it anticipates another challenging event from Singapore this weekend.

The Marina Bay Circuit stands as the only track that Red Bull failed to win at during its dominant 2023 campaign.