Horner echoes Verstappen’s McLaren verdict amid ‘interesting’ Red Bull challenge

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Christian Horner has echoed the verdict of Max Verstappen that McLaren are now Red Bull’s closest rival due to the consistency Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are showing.

McLaren have outscored Red Bull in recent rounds with Norris and Piastri joining Verstappen on the podium. The Woking squad have scored 104 points over the last three race weekends to the 73 for the Milton Keynes team. Sergio Perez’s problems in those rounds hurt Red Bull.

Perez only finished the Singapore GP in P8 after qualifying in P13 and also crashing with Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon. Verstappen, too, qualified in just P11 as Red Bull struggled to find a fitting set-up. But he recovered to take P5 as Norris followed race winner Carlos Sainz home.

Verstappen, Norris and Piastri have become Formula 1’s power trio of late

Norris would claim back-to-back P2 finishes after claiming another podium at the Japanese GP, too. The 23-year-old split Verstappen and Piastri on the rostrum while Perez retired from the race twice. He initially retired after contact with Kevin Magnussen which drew a penalty.

Perez seemingly failed to learn from his mistakes after making the same error when crashing with Magnussen as he did Albon. Neither overtake was on but the 33-year-old sought overly ambitious dives. His form did not improve at the Qatar GP, either, with a P10 finish at Lusail.

Both McLarens again joined Verstappen on the podium as Piastri held off Norris for P2 at the Qatar GP. The 22-year-old also won the Sprint at Lusail ahead of Norris and Verstappen after beating his McLaren teammate for pole. It was his first win of any kind as a Formula 1 driver.

Perez, though, retired from the Sprint after being caught in a three-wide crash with Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg. Yet he had also only qualified in P8 and also in P13 for the Qatar GP. He finished the race in P10 after three five-second penalties after exceeding track limits.

Verstappen believes McLaren have F1’s best driver line-up behind Red Bull

Verstappen believes Piastri and Norris’ recent form has seen McLaren emerge as Red Bull’s closest rival. He also feels the duo are proving themselves as the best driver pairing behind his 2023 constructors’ champions. So, it will be ‘interesting’ to see how their threat builds.

“I do think that, as a team, they are probably the most consistent compared to the others behind us,” Verstappen said, via quotes by RACER. “And I do think they have the best driver line-up out of all of them.

“So, yeah, they are operating really well. And, yeah, it’s going to be interesting to the end of the year. But also, I think the start of next year to see where everyone is at.”

Horner has now echoed Verstappen’s verdict about McLaren’s consistency

Red Bull team principal Horner has also echoed Verstappen’s sentiment that McLaren have been their most consistent rival of late. While Ferrari won the Singapore GP with Sainz, the Spaniard finished P6 in Japan and did not start in Qatar. Charles Leclerc took P4, P4 and P5.

“It’s moved around over the last four or five races,” Horner said, via RacingNews365. “But they’ve become certainly more consistent, the most consistent challenger.

“They’re doing a good job and the drivers are driving well. Particularly Oscar, in his rookie season is doing a very strong job.”