Horner: Verstappen absolutely ready to fight for title

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes his driver Max Verstappen is "absolutely" ready to fight for the Formula One world title.

Lewis Hamilton claimed his fifth world championship at the Mexican Grand Prix recently, with Verstappen giving the Brit a huge helping hand in winning the race for his second victory of the season.

This continued Verstappen's impressive form since the summer break; only not appearing on the podium in Italy and Russia.

Horner was asked by Crash.net if Verstappen is ready to challenge the likes of Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel next season for the title, and replied: "I think, absolutely.

"If we've had an engine that is anywhere near the ballpark of our opponents, then we've got a strong enough team and strong enough driver package to take the fight to them.

"We're obviously hopeful that the Honda, with the progress they're making, will put us into a situation where we're more regularly able to compete. We are here with the optimum downforce on the car, the optimum setting on the car.

"I think it's right up there (with the best wins). This is what, his fifth victory now? It's equal to last year and it's impressive. He has an awful loads of capacity in the car. I think he's got a very good racing brain as well. So he's wanting to understand what's going on in the rest of the race to match his pace accordingly.

"At a Grand Prix where you've got a car that is that good, he's demonstrated time and time again how good he is in managing his tyres. We saw that in Austin. I think he just wanted to see what potential was there and I'm sure the engine was turned down, so there wasn't any risk at all."