Horner sees smaller gap between Verstappen and Perez: 'Updates are working well'

Perez yet to have all of the Red Bull updates

Verstappen expressed his hopes about his Formula 1 team's updates ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. Both he and team advisor Helmut Marko stressed that this package must actually work if Red Bull is to get ahead of the competition again. Based on the first two free practice sessions on Friday, Horner is positive about the new updates, one of which Perez, incidentally, is still missing.

"It's been a positive Friday," Horner told Sky Sports. "I would say probably Checo's best Friday since possibly China. So the cars are working well. There's a slight difference between the cars. Both of them have upgrades. The only bit that Checo's missing is the engine cover and side pod element. But the floor, the wing, the rest of it is the same between the two.

Horner: 'Gap between Verstappen and Perez is closing'

Horner notes that the car is working well with the new updates, citing the smaller gap between Verstappen and Perez as evidence of this. "When the car works well you see that gap diminish between the two of them and hopefully he'll have taken quite a bit of confidence out of that. I think the car has been, whilst it's been performing, it's been on a bit of a knife's edge and I think we've seen Max just cope with that a little better than Checo certainly has. But hopefully, with the steps that we've made here, we've got the car in quite a nice window."

Red Bull still enjoys a comfortable lead in both championships, but Horner does not want to celebrate too soon. "It's a nice position to be in, but there's a lot of racing and a lot of points still to go. So we don't take anything for granted. And, we want to go into the summer break ideally having put a bit of interest on that. But, there's a lot of racing to go, sprint races, Grand Prix's obviously. So nothing for granted."  Horner concluded.