Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has hinted that he expects continued competition from McLaren after the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
McLaren's Lando Norris made a late-race surge and put pressure on Max Verstappen in the final laps of the event.
Verstappen held off Norris and crossed the finish line seven-tenths of a second ahead of the McLaren driver to achieve the closest finish under green flag conditions since the 2022 race in Jeddah.
Red Bull has dominated the last two seasons in Formula 1 – but Horner indicated its title quest will be far from a cruise this time around.
“You can't take anything for granted, and we certainly don't,” Horner told media outlets including: Racing News 365.
“We won five out of seven [grands prix] And two sprints and seven out of seven poles, but the margins are good, very good.
He continued: “In the third year of these rules, there will always be a convergence, and you can see it, the appearance of the cars is getting closer.
“You can see that the performance is converging and we will see more races like today with very good margins.”
The frequency of the specified circuit
McLaren added upgrades to its Miami rival two weeks ago, helping it claim its first grand prix win since 2021.
While Horner expects an increased challenge from the Woking-based team, the Briton noted that recent circuits have not dealt with the strengths of the Red Bull RB20.
“I think you can say that over the last two races yes [McLaren] “He was our main competitor,” he said.
“I would say they've definitely added performance to their car, the philosophy is very similar to ours, and you know they've definitely made a step forward.
“So, we definitely expect them to be competitive at all tracks, and there are certain tracks that play to our strengths and some tracks that don't.
“The last two circuits, if you like, were tracks that didn't suit the inherent strengths of the car.”
