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Red Bull is hopeful it can carry over its competitive pace from the second half of 2019 to 2020, says team boss Christian Horner.
The energy drink squad has picked up two races wins so far this season, both of which came before the summer break.
However, Horner has been impressed by the pace of the car in recent races, and sees an opportunity in 2020 for the team due to the minimal changes to the technical regulations.
"The car is genuinely performing well over the last few races and the encouraging thing for us is the stability of the rules over winter," Horner said.
"Anything that we learn this year, we carry onto the RB16."
Horner heartened by Red Bull's 2019 development
Last time out at the US Grand Prix, Max Verstappen came home in third place, but was arguably denied second when yellow flags prevented him from launching an attack Lewis Hamilton down the back straight towards the end of the race.
Verstappen missed out on pole position by a small margin but eased to a podium finish, while teammate Alexander Albon fought through the field after being forced to make a pit stop on the opening lap of the grand prix.
MORE: Albon 'had the pace' to fight Leclerc
"I think in Mexico we had a really competitive car, and that was a missed opportunity for us following the first lap incident," Horner reflected, referring to when Verstappen came together with Hamilton.
"But the car has performed well here [US], and it's been windy which again highlights the progress that we've made. That would have badly affected us at the beginning of the year.
"We've been competitive throughout the weekend there. Had it not of been for a little lock-up at Turn 1 [in qualifying], arguably we could have achieved pole position.
"Generally, the car has been competitive in every session. [We achieved] a competitive third place. Alex's third highlighted again our competitiveness."
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (5)
Login to replyPistonhead
Posts: 556
Let us hope so - progress in last year or two has been good, cant dent it, chassis is always good, engine getting there, as a die hard F1 fan desperately want to see three team, or more, genuinely competing for a whole season, not just a handful of races.
ashavin301
Posts: 21
May be they should start to cheat like merc... and ferrari
JuJuHound
Posts: 352
I dont know where this encourageges is coming from.
Since two years Red Bull is doing much better and the last races due to circuits specification suitable for their cars (Suzuka, Austin, Brazil). And then at the beginning of each season they are 3rd team in standing.
Sadtomato
Posts: 48
I imagine that Red Bull are feeling rather pleased with themselves if they believe that they have knocked Ferrari's miraculous speed 'advantage' on the head! I can just imaging Marko and Horner singing "Happy days are here again..."!
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I think good times are ahead of them. A lot do depend on Honda progressing, of course, but considering this is the partnership's maiden year, I think things've gone really well.