Horner implies title bid reality Verstappen fans will hate to hear

After describing the Austrian Grand Prix as 'a home race to forget' for the Milton Keynes-based outfit, Horner then backtracked on his previous statements where he put Verstappen and Red Bull very much in the championship fight.

The gap championship leader Oscar Piastri holds over Verstappen in the standings grew to a seemingly unsurmountable 61 points. Speaking after the race, Horner acknowledged the superority McLaren currently have on the rest of the field and foregoed allchampionship thoughts.

"I think McLaren, you can see how they're racing each other. They've got a cushion to the rest of the field. For us we just focus one race at a time. So we don't even think about championships," said Horner to media present in Austria including GPblog.

For Horner the objective has now shifted from aiding Verstappen's 5th consecutive championship bid to a more race by race focus. "We just focus on next race, Silverstone, what can we achieve there? Same in Spa, same in Budapest," the Austrian team's boss concluded.

Earlier the team boss had spoken about the potential switch Verstappen could make to Mercedes, with the German team's boss and CEO Toto Wolff revealing his interest in acquiring the reigning world champion's services for the 2026 season. You can read his thoughts here.