Christian Horner shares key data concern about why Red Bull’s updates for Austin might not work

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Christian Horner has said that Red Bull’s planned upgrade for the United States Grand Prix might not work.

Red Bull is facing a development race with McLaren in the second half of the season having slipped behind as the fourth-fastest car in recent races, leading to them dropping to second in the Constructors’ Championship.

Max Verstappen finished 20 seconds behind Singapore GP winner Lando Norris, while Sergio Perez crossed the line in 10th place behind Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso.

While the RB20 produced the step forward for Red Bull at the beginning of the season, since McLaren brought their major upgrade package at the Miami GP they have fallen behind and face losing both titles in the final six races of the season.

Perez’s late crash with Carlos Sainz at the Azerbaijan GP caused Red Bull to suffer a ‘massive setback’ in Singapore, which could impact their next upgrade planned for Austin. Team principal Christian Horner has cautioned that it might not bring the performance gains they need to beat McLaren outright when speaking to AMuS.

Christian Horner warns Red Bull upgrade for Austin might not work

Red Bull traced their performance problems back to an upgrade they made to the RB19 at last years Spanish GP, which sent them down the wrong development path for the next 12 months.

This impacted Perez more than Verstappen, but the last three races have shown a drastic change is needed if Red Bull wants to retain its Drivers’ crown.

Red Bull showed some improvement at the Singapore GP, although this was slightly helped by the mistakes made in qualifying by both Ferrari drivers. Horner expects the Milton Keynes squad will be working “long nights” in a bid to improve their fortunes.

“It’s the second race after Baku in which we’ve improved. We have understood our problems and are now on the right track to solve them,” said Horner.

“The break is great. There will be many long nights in Milton Keynes to set this up. We have to admit that McLaren is the new [performance] bar.

“We have not yet completed our analysis of the last two races. Unfortunately, Baku and Singapore are special routes that make it difficult to draw general conclusions. The changes for Austin are based on what our engineers are now filtering out of the data.”

Red Bull made key change that ‘transformed’ Max Verstappen’s race

Red Bull looked significantly off the pace during Friday practice for the Singapore GP, indicating that it could be another podium-less weekend for the team.

Singapore was the outlier track last year for them with the dominant RB19, but in the context of this year’s title battle, this was even more important to get right.

READ MORE: What Red Bull were planning to do in Singapore that meant they had no say in Daniel Ricciardo’s fastest lap

Red Bull made a major setup breakthrough before qualifying for Verstappen, enabling Verstappen to compete for the top three places on Sunday.

Technical director Pierre Wache said they used a stiffer car setup that ‘transformed’ Verstappen’s weekend, having run the car soft on the suspension throughout the weekend.