Red Bull is not giving up on the 2020 Formula 1 title with Max Verstappen, believing the second half of 2020 could swing in their favour.
So far this season Mercedes has been largely dominant, claiming every pole and five wins in six races, with the Dutchman able to capture one victory in the second race at Silverstone.
At the last race in Spain though, Hamilton produced a real show of force to beat Verstappen by 24 seconds on pure pace alone, highlighting the advantage Mercedes currently has over Red Bull.
But team boss Christian Horner is confident the gap can be closed.
“We’ve got some good stuff in the pipeline, and there’s still a long way to go in this championship,” he said on the company’s ‘Talking Bull’ podcast.
“The races are coming thick and fast, but I think that if we can get through the next two that are very much Mercedes territory in Monza and Spa, then there’s a few tracks coming up, a few new circuits as well that it could come back to us,
“We see that as an opportunity later in the championship.
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“It’s a shame Max got the DNF at the first race. Without that, I think we’d really be 18 points probably closer to Lewis at the moment,” he added, with the current gap between Hamilton and Verstappen at 37 points.
“But it’s been a great run. Max is driving out of his skin at the moment, he’s put in some great Sundays so far.
“We’re just fighting hard to put some performance on the car and hopefully, with the 10 or 11 races that remain we can close the gap.”
As the Red Bull boss alluded to, however, the long straights of Spa-Francorchamps are likely to see Mercedes certainly dominate qualifying with this the final weekend before their ‘party mode’ is banned.
Therefore, though rain could spice things up, Verstappen has relatively low expectations at his second home race.
“The past years have been a bit mixed in terms of results, but you never know,” said the 22-year-old, who finished third in 2018 only to retire on Lap 1 a year ago.
“We don’t expect this race to be our best due to the layout of the track and our package, but we will be pushing hard again just like in previous races. As a team, we have to maximise.
“We are second in both Championships and have to make sure we keep up the momentum.
“You can overtake well at Spa because of the long straights, but I also expect the teams to be short behind us in qualifying. We know Mercedes has a lot of power and they will certainly be fast.”