Christian Horner has insisted that Red Bull have not “suddenly become idiots overnight” after a difficult Austrian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen did not make it past the third corner as he was taken out by the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, and his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda finished last after multiple incidents.
With this poor performance, it seems that Verstappen may be out of the driver's championship, as he currently sits 61 points behind Oscar Piastri as the midpoint of the season creeps closer.
Horner reassured the media that his star driver should have faith that Red Bull can claw their way back into the championship.
Christian Horner will have some questions to ask after a difficult weekend
Reuters
"I still believe that we have strength in depth in this team," he said.
"Unfortunately, we haven't seen the performance come that we would like. We're at the end of a set of regulations. I think we are compromised by some of the tools that we have.
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"But it's the same fundamental group of people that 18 months ago designed a car that won every single Grand Prix bar one. They didn't suddenly just become idiots overnight.
"You have to acknowledge the great job that McLaren are doing, and congratulations to them."
Toto Wolff has recently come out and confirmed they are trying to sign Max Verstappen for 2026, and Christian Horner was quick to defend his team after the poor result.
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Max Verstappen didn't make it past turn three on Sunday
Reuters
"I think they [Mercedes] have got their own problems. They were 62 seconds behind the race leader today," he added.
"For us, we just focus on ourselves. We know what the situation is with Max. We know what the contracts are with Max, and you know the rest is all noise that's not coming from here."
It wasn’t just Verstappen who had a poor day at Red Bull’s home race, his teammate Tsunoda finished in last, two laps down on the leading McLaren
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Horner addressed his struggles as well.
"Yuki had a horrible race, again, it started to go wrong for him in Q1 yesterday," he said.
"His first run in Q1 was fine. Second run, he made a mistake at Turn One and then qualified badly, and then was running in traffic, unable to pass, then picks up a penalty. It just compounds things.
"Of course, we'll look to see how we can support him, but there's a big delta between the two cars. Of course, internally, we ask all of those questions that, no doubt you ask, in terms of why. Obviously, the car has evolved over the years in a specific direction.
Yuki Tsunoda finished 2 laps down on Lando Norris
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"We'll see if we can help Yuki and rebuild his confidence in Silverstone."
Horner will be hoping Red Bull can bounce back for British Grand Prix as Verstappen will be needing a good result to claw his way back into the championship.
The race will take place on Sunday.
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