FILE PHOTO: Formula One F1 - Singapore Grand Prix - Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore - September 20, 2024 Red Bull team principal Christian Horner ahead of practice REUTERS/Caroline Chia/File Photo
(Reuters) - Formula One champions Red Bull hope to pick up the pace over the last six rounds of the season after Max Verstappen emerged stronger than expected from back-to-back street races in Azerbaijan and Singapore, team boss Christian Horner said.
The triple world champion, who will be 27 next week, had his advantage over McLaren's Lando Norris cut from 62 points after the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on Sept. 1 to a current 52.
The season now has a four-week lull before a U.S.-Mexico-Brazil sequence starting in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 20, followed by another final triple-header of Las Vegas-Qatar-Abu Dhabi.
"I think we've got a vein of development and I think we've understood some of the issues with the car. I think we're starting to address them," Horner told reporters after Verstappen finished a distant second to Norris in Singapore.
"We were better in Baku, we were better here."
Verstappen finished fifth in Baku after sixth at Monza, a result that equalled Monaco in May as his worst of the season so far but could have been far worse.
The Dutch driver won all six of the remaining races last year, the most dominant season the sport has seen, and Horner felt the team were on the right path despite McLaren taking a 41-point lead in the constructors' standings.
"I think the encouraging thing was the car reacted as we hoped it would and what our tools were telling us," he said of Singapore.
"I think the team are starting to get a direction and an understanding of where some of the limitations are and some of the causes of limitations. That opens up development paths and veins that hopefully will be productive.
"I think what Monza really exposed was perhaps some of the root cause, or helped to identify the root cause of the issue. So I'm taking Monza as the low point and we're starting to build out of that."
While McLaren believe the drivers' championship is on, the mathematical reality is that Norris still has a mountain to climb.
One retirement could blow the battle wide open, or kill it off, but the Briton will have to increase his scoring rate on current form.
With three sprint races adding to the available tally, there are a maximum 180 points still to be won.
Azerbaijan and Singapore were seen as circuits where Norris and McLaren could make big gains, and Ferrari looked more of a threat, but in the end Verstappen lost only 10 points to his rival.
In real terms, Norris is still almost as far from Verstappen as when he secured his first victory in round six in Miami in May -- a race that came after the Red Bull driver had won four of the first five.
That win lifted the Briton to 53 points behind.
There have been 12 races since and although Verstappen has not won since June, an eight-race losing streak, his lead has remained stubbornly healthy.
"Pretty pleased, but still a lot of work to do," he said after Sunday's race. "We know that. Hopefully now we can really kick-start things."
(Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Peter Rutherford)
