Red Bull limited Ferrari damage - Horner

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Red Bull limited the damage to Ferrari at two power circuits and is in a strong position for the rest of the season, says team principal Christian Horner.

Ferrari held second in the constructors' championship until the German Grand Prix, when Red Bull overhauled it to lead by 14 points. While the lead was extended to 22 points after the Belgian Grand Prix, Ferrari closed the gap with a third and fourth place in Monza last weekend.

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With Red Bull finishing fifth with Daniel Ricciardo and seventh with Max Verstappen in Italy, Horner says it is important to look at the bigger picture of not losing its position in the standings at circuits which did not suit the car's strengths.

"Yes, absolutely, after the anti-stall with Max at the start," Horner said when asked if Red Bull secured the best result it could realistically hope for in Monza. "Fifth and sixth was our target. Fifth and seventh considering where they came around on the first lap was absolutely optimum.

"We always knew that this race was going to be our most challenging of the year. And this weekend had been all about damage limitation.

"The great passing moves by the drivers, Daniel on [Valtteri] Bottas, and Max on Sergio [Perez], to get us into fifth and seventh – so we leave Europe 11 points ahead of Ferrari, which is a positive place to be in."

And Horner says Monza should not be taken as a sign of Mercedes pulling away from the rest of the field.

"No, [Monza] is the horsepower circuit, slow speed corners, long straights, so it is a very clear result of where things are at. It is not any surprise to anyone. We are in a better position we were 12 months ago, but there is still some way to go to close that gap.

"We know that there are circuits coming up that should hopefully more suit the characteristics of our car – Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Mexico theoretically are all tracks that should hopefully be reasonable for us."

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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.