F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Horner sees red over Ferrari's 'insane' power advantage

Red Bull has admitted that it was shocked to see how much more power Ferrari had been able to bring to the British Grand Prix at the weekend, compared to the performance of its own Renault engines.

"We were just hugely exposed [on Sunday], in both defence and attack," team principal Christian Horner said.

He said that the difference had been particularly apparent when the race restarted after a safety car period, with Max Verstappen vying for position with Kimi Raikkonen.

"You could see at the restart with Kimi: it was a bit like Mexico 2015 the amount of additional power," Horner said. "We ran our qualifying mode at the restart versus Kimi's and you can see the difference.

"You could see how hard Max was having to work to keep Kimi behind him, their overspeed at the restart was insane," he said. "And at the second restart he had a moment at Stowe yet was still all over Max into turns 2 and 3."

Verstappen himself said it felt like he was competing in a different championship to the Raikkonen.

"If you're missing 70 to 80 horsepower you know you're going to struggle," Verstappen said. "On the straight it looked like we were in a different series."

"I don't know exactly the amount but if you lose more than a second on the straight then you know it's a lot."

Asked if it had felt like he was driving a Formula 2 support series car, Verstappen answered simply: "Yes!"

Nor was it just Verstappen. Horner pointed to Daniel Ricciardo's inability to challenge Valtteri Bottas, even when the Finn was struggling with tyre issues late in the race.

"He just couldn't attack Valtteri while having a superior tyre and grip and performance," noted an exasperated Horner. "Even with the DRS open we were still dropping back.

"The problem with Silverstone now is that it's such a wide open throttle circuit," he explained. "You're talking 82 per cent in qualifying full throttle.

"Corners like Copse, Becketts, Stowe are not quite the challenge they were in these cars - everybody is flat through Copse now.

"It just scrubs speed, so it's made it much more power-centric," he said. "That's when the power really kicks in. And we see it time and time again: turn 3 at Barcelona, turn 3 in Sochi, turn 7 in Austria. It's a known issue.

"In qualifying I think every single corner we were quicker than Sebastian, but we just hose time down the straights."

Red Bull is to break with Renault at the end of the season, although Horner admitted that as things stood the Japanese manufacturer was no closer than Renault to matching Ferrari's level of power and performance.

"Honda and Renault are in a similar situation at the moment," he agreed. "However, it is all about potential and development.

"We really believe in what is in the pipeline at Honda to close the gap," Horner added. "With Renault it's the same story year after year. But at Honda we see good progress, so it seems like the right choice.

"It's just time for a change."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

F1 drivers blindsided by race director Wittich’s sudden exit

The abrupt removal last week of FIA race director Niels Wittich with just three races…

33 mins ago

McLaren relaxes ‘papaya rules’: Norris and Piastri free to race

Oscar Piastri has confirmed that McLaren’s team orders—dubbed the "Papaya Rules"—have been largely relaxed, giving…

2 hours ago

Cheers to the forever young pure racer Jacques Laffite

The forever young Jacques Laffite turns 81 today, but the years haven't aged this pure…

3 hours ago

Las Vegas GP: Wednesday's build-up in pictures

The neon lights of Las Vegas are set to illuminate the Formula 1 world once…

4 hours ago

Tsunoda’s journey to Vegas nearly derailed by immigration standoff

Yuki Tsunoda kicked off his Las Vegas Grand Prix race week with a rather interesting…

5 hours ago

Hamilton: ‘I’m still here fighting - nothing can take me down’

Lewis Hamilton has dismissed suggestions that recent comments from Mercedes boss Toto Wolff have soured…

6 hours ago