Christian Horner believes Red Bull Racing is now making strides against front-runners Mercedes and Ferrari.
The Milton Keynes-based outfit was touted as Mercedes' main rival for 2017 but results fell well short of expectations when the season kicked off.
Wind tunnel and correlation issues led to Red Bull's RB13 failing to reproduce on the race track the data collected by the tools back at the factory, but an upgrade package introduced at the Spanish GP went a long way towards correcting the car's under-performance.
Additional updates since have gradually elevated the team's performance although results were undermined by reliability woes associated with its Renault power unit.
"We are sitting here, six podiums and a Grand Prix victory. We are further away than where we want to be from Mercedes and Ferrari," Horner said.
"But if we look at the four races between Montreal and Silverstone, Ferrari have only outscored us by two points and we haven’t had 100 per cent reliability in those races. In the last few races we have made good ground."
Horner admits catching Ferrari and Mercedes in the championship would be a tall order
"From a championship point of view, I think the gap between us and Mercedes and Ferrari is too big to haul back," Horner said.
"But I think I would like to at least outscore Ferrari in the second half of the year.
"If we can get into a situation to challenge for podiums and the higher places on the podium a couple of races between now and the end of the year.
"That is a realistic and I think an aggressive target for us."
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