'Not in our culture to give up on development' - Horner

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner hs stated that it's simply not in Red Bull's culture to drop all development for the current season as long as there is a chance of challenging for the title.

Other Formula 1 teams have largely switched their development focus to the 2022 season when there will be a major overhaul of the sport's technical rules and regulations.

With the new spending caps limiting the number of engineers and designers a team can employ, they've been forced to make hard choices over where to allocate their resources with many switching to the longer term.

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But things are different at Red Bull which is still locked in combat with Mercedes over both the driver and constructor champions with 12 races remaining on the current calendar.

“It is embedded in who we are as a race team that it's not in our culture to give up on any season,” Horner told Motorsport.com this week.

“Of course we have the constraints of the budget cap as well, which makes life slightly more complicated," he acknowledged. “But people have short term memories in this sport, and you've got to go for it."

“Every race is an opportunity," he added. "If it means people have to work a little bit harder, and a few longer hours to enable that, then absolutely everybody is up to that challenge.”

Horner's approach contrasts to that of his Mercedes counterpart, with Toto Wolff having previously indicated that his team was stopping almost all development of the W12 in favour of next year's model.

The team has since revised that approach. After falling behind their rivals in both championships, it had brought more upgrades to the current chassis which has helped put it back in the lead after success in Hungary.

“I don't know what their constraints are," Horner said when asked if Mercedes' initial strategy had surprised him. “I can't judge other organisations without having all the facts.

"The cost cap is having a significant impact on their planning and how they've managed during the COVID period," he pointed out.

"All I can do is focus on what we're doing and we're very comfortable with the approach that we are taking," Horner said. "We've managed to keep the body of the team very much together."

Whether Horner's approach on allocating development resources is the right one or not depends on more than just winning this year's drivers and constructors battles but on the lasting impact it has on next year's car.

“Obviously if they are two seconds ahead of us at the first race next year, that will be disappointing," he conceded. "But I feel that we've got the balance about right at the moment.”

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