Red Bull investigating tyre issues which are masking pace

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says the priority for the team over the next two weeks will be to investigate the tyre problems which are masking the car’s pace.

Following victory in the Spanish Grand Prix and a competitive display in Monaco where Daniel Ricciardo should have won from pole position, Red Bull has struggled in the last two races with high levels of tyre degradation. Horner told F1i the low downforce set-up required in both Canada and Azerbaijan had hurt the car’s ability to look after its tyres.

“I think by trimming the downforce so low the car is moving around a lot,” Horner said. “It’s then damaged the tyre and it’s only when we got on to the medium tyre [in Baku] and the temperature dropped a bit that it has fallen into a window that it was happy with.”

Horner admits the Austrian Grand Prix is likely to require a similar set-up which could see the problem continue, and has tasked Red Bull with trying to find solutions ahead of the next race.

“I think Austria will be a tough circuit for us as well because it is again very power-sensitive. So we will run less downforce but we will try to work hard to understand these degradation issues. That’s the key for the next two weeks.”