Red Bull off pace and suffer more unreliability in 2017 finale; "We will take all the lessons from this year into next year," says Horner
Friday 1 December 2017 11:56, UK
Red Bull can challenge for world titles in 2018, according to team boss Christian Horner, but only if they can improve their reliability and Renault deliver a substantial engine upgrade.
"We need desperately the engine to concertina in performance," said Horner after watching Mercedes romp to victory in the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP.
"Mercedes were in a class of their own. Hats off, they are doing a great job but engine performance is a key differentiator."
Hamilton: No concerns after defeats
Bottas beats Hamilton in F1 finale
F1 2017: The year in numbers
Despite three victories in 2017, Red Bull were soundly beaten by Mercedes and ended the season over 150 points behind second-placed Ferrari.
"If you look at the number of points we have given away through unreliability, it's close to 160," Horner told Sky F1 in Abu Dhabi.
"Engine reliability has hit us really hard. At the beginning of the year we undelivered on the chassis, we didn't hit the ground running. We understood those problems quickly and moved to address them quickly."
"We will take all the lessons from this year into next year and we have a lot to be optimistic about. We are hopeful that the engine situation will improve and we are getting a lot of promises that will be the case.
"But what's been really encouraging is the last 25 per cent of the season. We have had one of, if not the, strongest cars. If we can take that on RB14, we can give Merc and Ferrari a closer fight."
Speaking after Sunday's race, Horner added: "We have DNFed in far too many races. The RB13 has DNFed in 13 races and has had 13 podiums!"
Red Bull have strongly opposed F1's engine reduction for next season when the cars will be restricted to just power units apiece without penalty. Mercedes have defended the reduction while Ferrari are believed to have voted down a proposal from Red Bull to maintain the current figure of four.
"Going to three engines for 21 races is nuts. Contrary to whatever Toto says, his non-executive chairman [Niki Lauda] was arguing for four engines earlier in the year because it is a false economy.
"I would hate to see the championship decided on grid penalties."
Horner also added that Adrian Newey, the team's legendary technical chief, would be as involved in the design of the RB14 as he was in the RB13's.
