Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has insisted the "biggest challenge" for Formula 1's reigning constructors' champions at the upcoming Brazilian Grand Prix weekend will be to match McLaren's end-of-stint pace.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have consistently outperformed rivals as tyre stints go on in races in recent months, often hanging back and preserving their tyres before going on the attack late in the race.
That again became prevalent as Norris chased down Charles Leclerc's Ferrari for second in Mexico last weekend, clinching a result that helped slash Max Verstappen's lead in the drivers' title race.
The Dutchman complained about his tyres across both the medium and hard stints, with a lack of grip cited for his inability to recover to the top five after a pair of 10-second penalties.
When suggested to him that the race pace was again lacking compared to the one-lap qualifying effort that saw Verstappen take second on the grid, Horner replied: “I think that is the biggest thing that we need to take away from here.
"More so on the hard tyre, we just didn’t have the same pace. Max had no grip, we didn’t feel we could switch the tyres on. So that’s the biggest challenge in the next four days, to understand what caused that.
“Obviously, Brazil is a very different challenge to this circuit, but it’s a pattern that particularly at the end of stints, you see the McLaren is very strong – particularly at the end of grands prix.”
Carlos Sainz's victory and Leclerc's third place to follow up on the 1-2 finish in Austin, as well as Sergio Perez's poor form, means that Red Bull has been leapfrogged by the Scuderia into second in the constructors' standings.
Asked how he saw the battle for the team's title shaping up, Horner conceded: “I think it will be very difficult. We never give up. We’ll fight very hard. We need both cars, obviously, scoring.
“Ferrari had another big score here and as far as the constructors’ is concerned, we’re certainly on the back foot.”
Additional reporting by Erwin Jaeggi and Stuart Coddling
