Horner says Racing Point’s pace has all F1 teams “worried”

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says all Formula 1 teams should be “worried” about the rapid pace shown by the Racing Point during the Styrian Grand Prix.

Sergio Perez carved his way through the field as he charged from 17th on the grid and recovered to sixth at the chequered flag, one place ahead of teammate Lance Stroll, in what was an impressive recovery from a disappointing performance in a wet qualifying.

At times Perez was matching both Mercedes drivers, while he challenged Red Bull’s Alex Albon for P4 in the closing stages until the pair made light contact that damaged the Mexican’s front wing and cost him a place to the late-charging McLaren of Lando Norris.

Asked if Red Bull was worried by the pace demonstrated by Racing Point, Horner replied: "I think everybody would be worried by the Racing Point.

“Perez was quicker than the Mercedes at that point in the race. Bearing in mind that [Valtteri] Bottas was on tyres that were within one lap of age to the Racing Point, Perez was three or four tenths quicker.

“So it was very impressive pace that they showed and mI think Alex drove incredibly well to keep them behind.

“But also if you look at Alex's pace on that tyre versus Bottas, again there was encouragement that we can take from that in a car that wasn't carrying any damage.”

An investigation into the RP20 - dubbed as the ‘pink Mercedes’ by the team’s rivals - is under way after the stewards ruled a post-race protest from Renault against the legality of the car admissible.

After watching Mercedes romp to two consecutive victories in Austria, Red Bull believes its car will be better suited for this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix due to the RB16’s strengths in slow-speed corners, which the Hungaroring has in abundance.

“I hope that we’ll be more competitive in Hungary, it’s a different type of venue,” Horner explained.

“Mercedes are very strong and just the distance that the three guys [Hamilton, Bottas and Max Verstappen] were ahead of the rest was enormous. Max did well to keep up as well as he did.

“Their straight line speed is impressive,” he added.

“There is not much there is cornering speed, there are some corners we are better, some not we are quite as good, but certainly on this track their straight line speed has been very impressive so they've made a good step over the winter.”