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Red Bull still "outside contender" according to Horner

19:14, 03 Jul 2018

byNicolás Quarles van Ufford

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has said that his team are still outside contenders for the Formula One championship despite currently trailing by a long way.

Just like Mercedes and Ferrari, Red Bull have won three of the nine races of the 2018 season so far, but they're trailing championship leaders Ferrari by 58 points. Sure, that's not impossible to catch up to, but with the unreliability and inconsistency of the RB14, it's hard to see them catch up.

There have been highs, though. Daniel Ricciardo's wins at China and Monaco were great performances from the Aussie. Verstappen's win in Austria last weekend was a good one as well and an encouraging performance from the Dutchman, as he seems to have momentum on his side now after three straight podium finishes.

“Our Achilles heel has been not scoring with both cars, either through reliability our other incidents," Horner conceded on the Formula One's official website.

"Formula 1 is full of ifs, buts and maybes, but if you look at the positions that we were in and should have been in then we should be leading the championship today – but the scoreboard is slightly different to that.

"We've closed the gap over the last few races, and there's still a long, long way to go.

"So I think you'd have to consider us as an outside contender.

"There are some circuits coming up that should play to our strengths, places like Hungary and Singapore.

"So I think there is a chance in both championships and we certainly haven't written anything off at this point in the year."

Bold claims, even if they are nuanced. Do Red Bull actually stand a chance against Ferrari and Mercedes? We think that Red Bull, although it has been better this year, still lack the consistency that Mercedes especially have.