Horner: Ferrari raced us very hard at Monza

Ferrari were hell bent on delivering a strong performance in front of their Tifosi on Sunday, with Carlos Sainz nipping pole from Max Verstappen on Saturday, and during the race, Sainz and teammate Charles Leclerc did all they could to try and salvage the best result possible, a tough ask given the supremacy of the Red Bull RB19.

The Scuderia even bolted fresh power units to both their SF-23's along with a low drag rear wing especially designed for Monza in their bid to boost their top speed and improve their chances of a strong result at home.

Speaking to the media, Horner was asked to comment about Ferrari's attack plan, he said: "I think they [Ferrari] were running those engines pretty hard, and you know, new engines obviously always have that little bit of extra performance.

"Monza holds such a special place of importance in their season that you can see the package that they bought here was focused on straight line speed. I think that they did a great job in qualifying, but we put more bias towards Sunday than Saturday, and I think it paid off in the end with a very strong race," he explained.

As for the Ferrari Monza rear wing, the Briton added: "They certainly raced us very hard today and it was a unique circuit. It was a tough and hard race to certainly pass the Ferraris.

"They defended robustly, they were quick on the straights, and Monza actually isn't that easy to overtake at. So I think both drivers did a super job today. Checo managing to come through the field and do it the hard way – he had to pass George and Charles and Carlos - was a great drive from him as well," he maintained.

Asked to reflect on Red Bull's and Verstappen's achievement on Sunday at Monza; Horner said: "It's an amazing result.

"Ferrari getting the pole position yesterday, you could see what it meant to the Tifosi, and certainly last night outside my hotel, I was in the same hotel as the Ferrari drivers, it was about 1am when they started to finally quieten down.

"But we knew we had a quick car. Ferrari, were very, very fast on the straights today [Sunday]. And I think Max could see that they were a little bit harder on the rear tyre and that was part of our strategy in terms of the setup that we adopted knowing that the temperatures were going to be a little bit higher today.

"Carlos defended very hard and robustly, which you would in a Ferrari around Monza. But finally Max was able to get that pass done, and Checo as well, first of all passing George then Charles and then Carlos. So to get that one-two finish and for Max to become on his own as the most consecutive F1 wins at 10 victories is quite outstanding.

"We were flat out," Horner revealed. "We were pushing incredibly hard and the Ferraris were fighting hard and it was a straight fight. I think Max is very smart in that situation where he was pushing Carlos’s vulnerabilities to get him to use his tyre. And then obviously got close a couple of times down at Turn 1, but then was finally able to make it stick."

Verstappen revealed in the parc ferme interviews that he was nursing an issue at the end of the race, Horner explained: "He was managing some temperature issues, we just didn't want to take any risk.

"It was a stinking hot day and we had a couple of temperatures that were under control, but there's a bunch of cars ahead of Gasly and we just didn't want to run in dirty air. So you know, that's why we took it a little bit easier the last few laps," he added.

Aside from Verstappen's record-breaking tenth consecutive win, Red Bull have now won all 14 races in 2023, and 15 out of 15 if Abu Dhabi 2021 is counted, and the question is now whether they can remain unbeaten for the rest of the season.

Asked about his predictions for the rest of season, Horner responded: "We’ve won 14 races out of 14 so far, to be leaving the European season undefeated is something we could have never imagined.

"To win a Grand Prix is hard enough, to win 14 in a row, or 24 out of the last 25, that means every single member of the team is doing their part. We’re racing against some massive opponents, and we're just taking it one race at a time," he insisted.

The Red Bull boss believes the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix - Verstappen finished seventh there in 2022 - might prove to be his team's toughest challenge so far in 2023.

"The next race in Singapore," he said. "It’s a street circuit, it's one of the toughest on the calendar. We saw last year how perilous it can be, so we just do our best to keep this momentum running."

Red Bull now the lead the 2023 Formula 1 Constructors' Championship by 310 points from Mercedes, while Ferrari are 45 points further down the road in third.

(Additional reporting by Agnes Carlier)