Christian Horner admitted that Red Bull "needs to understand" why it lost ground to Ferrari over the weekend in Austria.
Christian Horner admitted that Red Bull "needs to understand" why it lost ground to Ferrari over the weekend in Austria.
Max Verstappen started the event by clinching pole position and winning the short 23-lap race, but lost out to Charles Leclerc in the main event.
Verstappen seemed destined to come in third, also behind Carlos Sainz, but held on to second position when the Spaniard suffered an engine failure at the end.
Red Bull had greater tire degradation than Ferrari, with the Dutchman describing his car as "unpredictable."
For Horner, Verstappen's second place represented "very important points," but he lamented Ferrari's advantage in race pace.
"Congratulations to Ferrari today, they had the fastest car for most of the race," Horner told the . "Max was closing in at the end, but our tire degradation got bigger from the middle of the first stint and it was difficult to combat that."
When asked if Red Bull faced the same problem in the short race, Horner said, "Not even close to what we saw today. Ferrari seemed smoother on their tires. Obviously, they had a pace advantage, which provides more strategic options."
Horner added that Red Bull now has to dive into the data and learn everything it can before the next leg of the season in France.
"Our pace at the end of the race... We still got the fastest lap," Horner pointed out. "However, we didn't have the same window as yesterday and that's something we obviously need to understand. In those two races, Max only lost five points, so it's not so bad."