‘How would Helmut know?’ – Christian Horner sets record straight on RB20’s upgraded floor gains

Although Christian Horner admits Red Bull are “into diminishing returns”, he refuted Helmut Marko’s claim that Red Bull’s new floor was only worth “six points” in downforce.

Red Bull arrived at the Silverstone circuit with two upgrades for the RB20, both performance upgrades that were centred around the floor.

Christian Horner rubbishes Helmut Marko’s ‘half a tenth’ claim

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper

Together, claimed Red Bull motorsport advisor, they were worth “half a tenth” of a second.

“We brought an update,” he told Sky Deutschland after qualifying at the Silverstone circuit, “which added up to six points. And that made up about half a tenth.”

That led to Horner being questioned about whether ‘marginal gains’ were now what Red Bull are chasing.

Told that Marko said the floor was worth ‘six points in downforce’, Horner joked to the media, including PlanetF1.com, “How would Helmut know?”

But press on Red Bull’s ‘marginal’ gains, he said: “Firstly, I think the figure is incorrect.

“But I mean, it’s no secret that we have less development time than the others and we’re at the top of the curve so you’re into diminishing returns.”

But diminished or not, the Red Bull team boss says there are gains to be found.

“I think there’s stuff that we have in the pipeline that whilst we are at the top of the curve, there are still gains to be had,” he explained.

“And inevitably, when it closes, it’s down to those marginal fine details that make the difference. And you know, the form is moving around a bit.

“Mercedes was strong today, McLaren was strong last week, we won the week before in Barcelona. I think out of this triple header, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Max hasn’t scored the most points.”

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Christian Horner: If anybody can explain the pace of their car…’

However, it wasn’t just in the triple header that form was moving around with McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull all enjoying a period of superiority during Sunday’s British Grand Prix.

While Mercedes led the early laps at a chilly Silverstone circuit, McLaren ran 1-2 when the rain came down before Verstappen chased Lando Norris down in the final stint to finish second.

“I think if anybody can explain the pace of their car in today’s race, they’d be doing very well, because it just seems to move around,” Horner said of Sunday’s back-and-forth.

“The Mercedes has always been strong in the cooler conditions. And they looked to have things, and George looks to have things pretty much under control. And then Lewis came alive, I think as it started to rain and then the McLaren really came alive and passed both of us.

“So it was moving around depending on what was what was going on. In those conditions, you’d expect Max to then really come alive as well but he was really struggling at that point.

“And then as the circuit dried out, or started to dry out, the pace arrived back, and we were at times six- seven-tenths quicker than then Lewis and Lando.”

Red Bull lead the Drivers’ standings with Verstappen 84 points ahead of Lando Norris while the team is 71 up on Ferrari in the Constructors’ standings.

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