Red Bull driver Max Verstappen extended his championship lead by scoring his seventh win of the season on Sunday, capitalizing on Charles Leclerc’s crash while in the lead.
But the race also saw Mercedes take both cars to the podium for the first time this season as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished second and third respectively.
Hamilton was second to Verstappen for the restart after the safety car period, but was powerless to challenge Red Bull due to their straight-line speed deficit. Hamilton finally crossed the line 10 seconds behind Verstappen at the end of the race.
Although Red Bull boss Horner was ‘not particularly’ surprised by the top speed of the Mercedes cars, saying ‘nothing marked us significantly’, he remained confident that the rival team was making inroads on the leaders.
“They were definitely talking about their chances before the weekend,” Horner said after the race at Paul Ricard.
“I think at the end of the day Max was reasonably comfortable. But you can see they’re addressing that, they’re getting closer.”
Horner joked, “I hear Toto [Wolff] said they were going to work over the summer vacation to improve the car, which of course would be illegal…
“You can see they are getting closer and closer.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Mercedes were expected to do well at Paul Ricard thanks to the smooth surface of the circuit and a layout that seemed to suit the Mercedes W13 car.
Yet Hamilton was still eight-tenths of a second off Leclerc’s pole time for Ferrari, while Russell could only manage sixth on the grid before the two drivers battled it out in the race.
Mercedes F1 chief Wolff said after the race that the team was “still lacking single-lap car performance and we were lacking performance in the early stages of the stint”, and that there would be no of “quick fix” to remedy these problems as he goes in search of a first victory this year.
Verstappen’s victory saw his lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship increase to 63 points, but he admitted the gap was bigger than it should be given Ferrari’s recent level of performance, which has was comparable to that of Red Bull.
Asked if he would dispute Ferrari having the fastest car at Paul Ricard, Horner said it was “impossible to really say”.
“Obviously Carlos Sainz looked fast, but then he’s on a shift strategy with the medium tire when others are on the hard tire,” said Horner.
“For sure they had a fast car today.”
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen extended his championship lead by scoring his seventh win of the season on Sunday, capitalizing on Charles Leclerc’s crash while in the lead.
But the race also saw Mercedes take both cars to the podium for the first time this season as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished second and third respectively.
Hamilton was second to Verstappen for the restart after the safety car period, but was powerless to challenge Red Bull due to their straight-line speed deficit. Hamilton finally crossed the line 10 seconds behind Verstappen at the end of the race.
Although Red Bull boss Horner was ‘not particularly’ surprised by the top speed of the Mercedes cars, saying ‘nothing marked us significantly’, he remained confident that the rival team was making inroads on the leaders.
“They were definitely talking about their chances before the weekend,” Horner said after the race at Paul Ricard.
“I think at the end of the day Max was reasonably comfortable. But you can see they’re addressing that, they’re getting closer.”
Horner joked, “I hear Toto [Wolff] said they were going to work over the summer vacation to improve the car, which of course would be illegal…
“You can see they are getting closer and closer.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Mercedes were expected to do well at Paul Ricard thanks to the smooth surface of the circuit and a layout that seemed to suit the Mercedes W13 car.
Yet Hamilton was still eight-tenths of a second off Leclerc’s pole time for Ferrari, while Russell could only manage sixth on the grid before the two drivers battled it out in the race.
Mercedes F1 chief Wolff said after the race that the team was “still lacking single-lap car performance and we were lacking performance in the early stages of the stint”, and that there would be no of “quick fix” to remedy these problems as he goes in search of a first victory this year.
Verstappen’s victory saw his lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship increase to 63 points, but he admitted the gap was bigger than it should be given Ferrari’s recent level of performance, which has was comparable to that of Red Bull.
Asked if he would dispute Ferrari having the fastest car at Paul Ricard, Horner said it was “impossible to really say”.
“Obviously Carlos Sainz looked fast, but then he’s on a shift strategy with the medium tire when others are on the hard tire,” said Horner.
“For sure they had a fast car today.”