Horner: Don't believe Mercedes won't update the W12

In the wake of a well-earned win at their home Styrian Grand Prix, where they beat Mercedes convincingly, Red Bull's team boss Christian Horner does not believe that their rivals will not bolt on another update to the W12, between now and the end of the season.

Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff suggested, over the weekend at Red Bull Ring, that his team were focussed on 2022, with little development going into the W12, which Lewis Hamilton is using for his title defence and quest for an eighth title.

But Horner is not buying it: “What Mercedes do is very much their business. So we’re just focused on ourselves and we know that Toto likes to throw the light somewhere else, so I can’t believe that they’ll go through the rest of this year without putting a single component on the car.

“But as I say, what we can do is focus on our own job. Of course, it is a balancing act between this year and next year, but if that means we’ve all got to work a bit harder than the other teams, we are fully up for it."

At Sunday's end, Horner's team topped the constructors' charts by 40 points, with Verstappen 18 points up on Hamilton in the drivers' standings. The efforts clear to all in the paddock, hard-graft and useful bits coming out of Milton Keynes and from Honda.

Horner explained the Red Bull way: “I think we’ve always believed as a race team that you have set developments. For example, you know Monza you have to make a set of wings as with Monaco…

"But of course, it is a balancing act between 2022 and this year, but it’s a matter of applying your resource selectively, carefully and efficiently and I think that the whole technical team, the production team, operational teams are all doing a phenomenal job.”

While in the past Red Bull have poked Mercedes, only for them to ramp it up a notch but not these days as witnessed in the recent races where the RB16B has an edge, particularly in Max's gifted hands.

Horner, reflecting on the race, continued: “I think from the season to date that was the first time we’ve managed to break that keeping them within DRS range. So to build the gap up to four or five seconds before the first stop and then build up.

"Max was about 15 seconds ahead when Lewis pitted again to get the fastest lap was, yes, arguably, it was our strongest and most complete performance so far this year," ventured Horner.

In the sister car, Sergio Perez was fourth after a gallant chase that needed a few hundred meters more to snatch third from Valtteri Bottas, but it was not to be on the day in which a rare tardy pitstop cost the Mexican a podium.

“So pole position, our first pole here and the win, it’s been a great two weekends so far. It was a great shame we didn’t have Checo up there as well after a difficult first pit stop but then his recovery, when we converted onto the two-stop, was phenomenal," added Horner.

In closing, Hamilton's assessment after finishing second on Sunday, sums up Mercedes quandary: “They’re faster, they’re just faster. There’s not a lot I can do in that respect.

“We need to find some performance, we need an upgrade of some sort, we need to push. I don’t know whether it’s just the rear wing or whether it’s the upgrade in the engine.

"We’ve got to find some performance from somewhere," insisted Hamilton in a clear signal to his team, suggesting Horner is correct; Mercedes will have to dig into their war-chest or Eight-&-Eight won't happen, Verstappen will walk away with his first F1 title and Lewis won't be happy.