Horner confirms crucial Red Bull meeting on Monday
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner confirmed that his team will hold a crucial meeting today, but the Briton claims that it will be a usual discussion with the Milton Keynes-based outfit set to figure out the upgrade plan for the second half of the season.
Although Max Verstappen dominated the wet conditions in Saturday's qualifying session, setting the benchmark from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, Red Bull have endured a very difficult Belgian Grand Prix.
A ten-place grid drop meant that the Dutchman only lined up 11th on the grid. While the reigning champion managed to overcome similar grid penalties in the last two years to take dominant victories in 2022 and 2023, he seemingly struggled for pace yesterday and ended up down in P5.
His team-mate Sergio Perez started from second on the grid, but lost out to Lewis Hamilton at the start. Although the Mexican looked strong during the opening stint, he lost out during the first round of pit stops, and he completely lost connection to the leaders due to his very early second tyre change.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner commented: "It was a tough race today. We finished 7 seconds behind the leader and over all we struggled. There were some positives though, Max has extended his lead over Lando and Checo brought home fastest lap. But it was a really tight race today.
"We didn’t have a big offset of pace today over the others but, credit to George and Mercedes, I’m not sure they planned to do a one stop but it worked out well for them today.
Over the course of the last days, it has emerged that the Austro-British team is set to a crucial meeting today to decide over the drivers who will partner Verstappen at Red Bull and Yuki Tsunoda at the Visa Cash RB team. Horner confirmed that his team will assemble today at Red Bull's headquarters, but he denied that it would be an extraordinary meeting.
"We have a lot to reflect on as we go into the summer break. We continue to lead in both the Constructors and Drivers Championships but convergence within the field means the gap is ever closing.
"We will regroup on Monday, as we always do before a break and look at how we can come back fighting for the second half of the season."
