Red Bull’s aggressive upgrade push won’t hurt 2022 F1 car - Horner

Five straight victories and a total of six wins from the opening nine rounds of the season have moved Red Bull into a 44-point lead over Mercedes in the constructors’ championship, while Max Verstappen holds a 32-point advantage over Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ standings.

The Milton Keynes-based squad has been bringing a consistent flow of performance-related upgrades across the opening races of the campaign in its bid to claim a first world championship title since 2013.

Conversely, its chief rival Mercedes is focusing on the development of its 2022 car for F1’s impending regulation overhaul, with a planned upgrade for this weekend’s British Grand Prix potentially being its final update of 2021.

But Horner dismissed the suggestion that Red Bull is risking sacrificing its 2022 prospects by continuing to develop its 2021 F1 car.

"You’ve got to go week-by-week and race-by-race and the team is doing a great job of balancing this year and next at the moment,” he explained.

“It’s nothing new. I mean there is a lot being made of it at the moment, but we’ve had big regulation changes in the past and you’ve just got to balance your resource and I apply it to what needs the most.

"I think the team are working incredibly hard, extremely well and effectively.”

F1 heads to Silverstone next for the British Grand Prix, a race Mercedes has dominated in recent years.  Mercedes has won every race held at Silverstone since 2013 aside from 2018 and last year’s 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, which was won by Verstappen.

Hamilton has more victories than any other driver at Silverstone with a total of seven British Grand Prix wins.

“It’s a shame we don’t have more races [in Austria], because now we head to a track that has been very much a Mercedes stronghold for the last seven years,” Horner added.

“Silverstone is the next challenge on the calendar and I think it is a challenge with the sprint race as well. We know it’s such a stronghold for Mercedes, so it’s going to be fascinating to see if we can take this form into what is our next home race.

“We’ve certainly found a good working window with the car over the last few races, and hopefully we can work within that window in Silverstone.”