Red Bull still banking on 'different' design approach

Red Bull Racing is sticking to its 2017 design concept despite kicking off its season a few lengths behind rivals Mercedes and Ferrari.

The Milton-Keynes outfit privileged a relatively simple aerodynamic approach for its new-spec RB13, one which enhances low drag on the straights but also underlines the car's delicate balance in the corners.

Team boss Christian Horner isn't' contemplating any changes, and will stick with the car's current platform, win, lose or draw.

"I think the philosophy that we have pursued and adopted is slightly different to the competitors and we still believe in the potential of that," Horner told Autosport.

"I don't think we have managed to extract the performance that we believe the car is capable of yet, and the development path should allow to open up.

"So hats off to Mercedes and Ferrari. They have both come up with very strong cars, but I am confident we can hopefully get into that fight a bit later in the season."

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Red Bull's cause could also be helped by a power unit upgrade by Renault which is in the works and scheduled for the Canadian Grand Prix.

"I think hopefully the second half of our season will be a lot more competitive than the first half of our year," he said.

"Our focus is taking it race by race. We are not looking too hard at championship tables at this point of time.

"It is more, how do we reduce that gap and how quickly can we do it?

"It is clear that Lewis [Hamilton] and Seb [Vettel] are in the quickest packages at the moment and obviously we want to join that party as quickly as we can."

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