Christian Horner, the principal at Red Bull, says the team will continue to throw all they have into the Formula One season, despite their title hopes fading fast.
With 10 races gone and nine to go, Red Bull have amassed barely half of Mercedes’s points total in the race for the constructors’ championship, trailing the German manufacturer by 178.
As for the Red Bull drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel are 84 and 108 points adrift of championship leader Nico Rosberg, respectively.
Although double points are on offer for the finale in Abu Dhabi, not even that prospect appears enough to save Red Bull’s campaign, and claims on a fifth successive crown.
Nonetheless, Horner is looking at the bigger picture and beyond.
“I can’t speak for other teams, but this team will fight all the way to Abu Dhabi, because everything we learn this year has a relevance for next year,” he said.
“Obviously, Mercedes will have to do something pretty catastrophic to lose this championship.
“But we don’t give up on anything. Every race weekend is an opportunity, and we’ve nine further opportunities to develop the car and learn from it before next year when the rules are pretty stable.”
Red Bull’s failings are linked to Renault’s inability to supply the team the engine it needs to compete with Mercedes.
Changes were recently made behind the scenes at Renault, which Horner feels have had a positive effect, although impact is unlikely to be felt for some time.
With Vettel and Ricciardo finishing fourth and sixth in Sunday's German Grand Prix, respectively, Horner conceded that his team had been "hoping for more" from Renault to allow them to put up a stronger fight.
“We had a very small step, but we have to keep working at it,” he said. “The changes in management there are much more positive, they are much more involved.
“They are embracing the fact there is an issue and looking to make changes to make sure we start to close that gap to Mercedes.
“Of course, it will take a little bit of time, but the right attitude is there now to start to make that progress.”
Force India enjoy success but want drivers to push on
Force India co-owner Vijay Mallya challenged drivers Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg to “be even more competitive” over the second half of surprisingly successful campaign.
Force India are enjoying the best season in the team’s history, with 98 points, which is 11 points shy of the team’s record haul during the 20-race season of 2012. It stands to reason that Mallya’s outfit should beat that haul with nine races left.
“We are in a good place, and the whole team should feel proud of our performance in the first half of the season,” Mallya said.
“We’ve scored 39 points more compared to the first half of last year, and that’s an indication of our consistency.”
Hamilton denies bias toward Rosberg at Mercedes
Mercedes-GP driver Lewis Hamilton allayed rumours that there is slight favouritism toward his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg merely because he is German.
“I’ve never seen such a hungry group of guys passionate to win from their side. It’s the same on Nico’s side,” Hamilton said Tuesday.
Follow our sports coverage on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
