Helmut Marko says Red Bull won't discard Max Verstappen's early title chances in order to switch its resources and focus to its 2022 car.
Red Bull's level of performance relative to arch-rival Mercedes in the first three races of 2021 has put Verstappen in contention for the championship with early signs pointing to a titanic battle between the Dutchman and Lewis Hamilton.
However, F1 teams are already hard at work on the development of their all-new 2022 cars, and the amount of resources devoted to next year's charger will only increase with each passing month.
Marko says Red Bull will continue to develop its current RB16B for as long as possible, and without compromising its 2022 car, rather than forsake Verstappen's title bid.
"We can’t do that to Max now that he has a car for the first time with which he can become world champion," said the Austrian.
Hamilton and Verstappen traded wins in Bahrain and at Imola while the Mercedes driver came out on at Portimão.
But Red Bull team boss believes the Portuguese track's low-grid environment did not cater to the strengths of the team's RB16B.
"We are slowly getting a picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the cars," said Horner. The conditions in Portugal were very abnormal so if we have a standard race in Barcelona we should know even more."
As for Verstappen, the 23-year-old also believes Red Bull will perform better at the Circuit de Catalunya, the scene of his very first F1 win in 2016.
But the eleven-time Grand Prix winner is expecting another close fight with Mercedes' drivers.
"I think it can be a good track for us, but I do expect Mercedes to be very quick too so it’s going to be very close again and it’s just going to depend on who finds the best set-up," he said in the team's Spanish GP preview.
"We know Barcelona is a normal track in terms of grip levels, unlike Portugal, so there we can see the real pace of the cars again.
"We are in a development race with Mercedes and we have to make sure we can keep this level for the rest of the season and keep improving every weekend," he added.
"Even if you win there are still so many things you can learn from a race weekend as nothing is ever perfect and we are looking at every aspect to stay in the fight."
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