Red Bull needs ‘magic password’ to unlock '19 F1 car

Christian Horner says Red Bull is seeking a “magic password” to unlock more performance from its 2019 Formula 1 car in a bid to match rivals Ferrari and Mercedes. 

The Milton Keynes outfit currently sits third in the constructors’ championship, 17 points behind Ferrari after the opening two rounds of the 2019 season. 

Red Bull beat Ferrari in Melbourne but the Italian squad found significant performance gains in Sakhir and would have comfortably won had engine issues not struck on Charles Leclerc’s car late on, handing Mercedes a second straight one-two.  

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Max Verstappen and teammate Pierre Gasly struggled throughout the weekend to get the best out Red Bull’s RB15 and find the optimum performance window, particularly on Pirelli’s softest compound.

“Ferrari were very strong here [in Bahrain]. Mercedes got lucky with a one-two, but Ferrari were the dominant team,” Horner said. 

“We are trying to understand where we are, our strengths and weaknesses to Ferrari here is quite important. 

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“You can see that once you get into a window, particularly with these tyres, they looked like a different team to two weeks ago and vice versa with Mercedes.

“So it’s just understanding what the magic password is.” 

Red Bull has already shown glimpses of its potential this year as Verstappen claimed Honda’s first podium of the V6 hybrid era with a third-place finish in Australia.

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Horner is pleased with the progress the Japanese manufacturer is making so far with its latest F1 power unit and believes the biggest gains for Red Bull to find fall on the chassis-side. 

“Ferrari look like they selected another gear,” he explained.

“It was enormously impressive, their straight-line performance. But we’ve got more to sort out on the chassis side. The engine is continuing to make good progress.

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“So our focus is very much on understanding the tyre issues and get the car into a good operating window.

“I think generally when you’re chasing issues like this and you’re moving a problem around – it usually points the finger in other areas. 

“We’ve got a lot of good data from Bahrain and are starting to understand areas we need to be focusing on.”