GPI 2017 Spanish Grand Prix | Page 166

WORK TO DO M uch was expected from the Red Bull upgrades which were bolted on to the RB13 for the Spanish Grand Prix, but it was clear that Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen did not have the ammunition to tackle pace of Ferrari and Mercedes but team chief Christian Horner is adamant that they closed the gap. Horner said after the race in Barcelona, “The pace to the front running cars was pretty significant, so we still have plenty to do. But we feel we have made some progress this weekend. It has given us a very clear development direction and we hope to be able to capitalise on that in the coming races.” “If you look at the weekend as a whole, we have definitely addressed some of the issues and definitely made some progress with the car. I think Max was unlucky at the start. He picked the outside, Valtteri [Bottas] started off a chain reaction hitting Kimi [Raikkonen] who bounced into Max.” “There was a small chance he was going to come out of that corner in third, but three-into- one unfortunately doesn’t go, so it was a shame to lose Max on the first lap,” lamented Horner.