Red Bull insists Ferrari “absolutely” remain in this year’s Formula 1 title battle despite recent engine problems.
The Scuderia has had three retirements due to power unit failures already in 2022, costing Charles Leclerc very likely wins in Spain and Baku and also costing Carlos Sainz second place in Austria.
But asked if Red Bull took any comfort in Ferrari’s unreliability, team boss Christian Horner was clear.
“Not really. We are not too focused on them,” he said via Motorsport.com.
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“We can’t control or contribute to that in any way. I think we have to focus on ourselves and just get the best out of our own package.
“They had a very strong car [in Austria] and they could well have finished first and second.”
Ferrari’s problems have allowed Red Bull and Max Verstappen to open up 56 and 38-point leads in the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championship respectively.
But Horner maintained Ferrari is still a genuine threat on the road to Abu Dhabi.
“Absolutely,” he said. “We are just at the halfway point of the championship and things swing around quite a lot.
“There is still an awfully long way to go. I would say Austria was sort of damage limitation as we managed to get pole, the sprint victory and then second place [in the race].
“I think Max only lost five points to Charles in the Drivers’ Championship and obviously damage was relatively contained in the Constructors’.”
Adding a Ferrari viewpoint, Carlos Sainz claimed the belief is still there at Maranello because of the F1-75’s performance.
“As a team, we are still motivated and united,” he told Formula1.com.
“We are going through a bump in the road, which I think after the step we’ve made on the engine this year I’d rather take that step and get through that bump than have an underpowered engine that is more reliable.
“I think as a team, we’ve done a great job with the engine this year. We are going through some problems that will be solved, I’m sure.”