Christian Horner dismisses Red Bull ‘fragility’ fears after Max Verstappen win in Miami

Horner says Red Bull’s reliability issues are being ironed out

Red Bull closed the gap in both standings in Miami (Getty Images)

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has dismissed the “fragility” of his team’s car following Max Verstappen’s win at the Miami Grand Prix.

The team have face reliability issues this season with Verstappen not finishing two races and his teammate Sergio Perez having to retire in one too.

But after Verstappen managed to overtake Charles Leclerc in Miami and hold him off to take the win, Horner says the issues are being ironed out.

“I don’t think the car is particularly fragile. I think there have been niggly things that you would normally have seen in pre-season testing that have only reared their head as we have got into the season so that has been frustrating.

“We are working closely with HRC and they are giving us great support so I think we will get those ironed out.”

Verstappen is now just 19 points behind Leclerc in the driver standings and Red Bull cut the gap in the contructors to six points.

However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing in Miami for the Red Bull team. Verstappen had issues in practice and Perez complained he was losing power in the race. The driver managed to finish fourth but Horner admitted if the car had been more reliable Perez could have ended the race higher.

“He had an issue with a sensor on one of the cylinders,” said Horner. “He lost a lot of track time, the guys managed to move the sensors around but he was down, probably, around 20 kilowatts of power as a result.

“Even with the advantage of the new tyres he had, he was around half a second off what the car was capable of in straight-line speed and without that, he would have probably even been P2.”

The team will once again try to close the gap on Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix on 22 May.