Red Bull not setting win targets for rest of F1 2019

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner insists his squad is not setting any specific win targets for the remainder of the 2019 Formula 1 season.

The Milton Keynes squad claimed its first victory of the season in Austria as Max Verstappen impressively recovered from a poor start to fightback through the field and snatch Red Bull’s first win since switching to Honda power.

After Red Bull initially struggled to get the best out of its RB15 challenger, a number of small updates, combined with some solid engine gains from Honda, have resulted in stronger performances in recent races.

Red Bull’s improved form led motorsport advisor Helmut Marko to suggest the team could win as many as five races throughout the remainder of the campaign.

Asked how many races he believes Red Bull can realistically win, Horner replied: “Well, there’s no crystal ball so we’re approaching the half point of the season.

“To have got that first victory is an enormous achievement and a huge milestone for the team and for Honda. We approach things race-by-race, as a team, with try and optimise.

“We didn’t go into Austria expecting to win that grand prix and came out with the first place trophy. That’s how we will approach every single grand prix between now and the end of the year.

“What that leads to in results we’ll know by the end of the year. Helmut obviously has an optimism which he’s already pushing and always going for which is great.

“I think from the team’s side, it’s a little bit more on a race-by-race basis but of course the target is to try and win as many races as we can between now and the end of the year.”

Verstappen echoed Horner’s comments despite an encouraging performance at the British Grand Prix, in which he was on course to beat both Ferrari drivers to the podium until getting hit by Sebastian Vettel.

“There are no added expectations, we need to keep working hard to close the gap to Mercedes,” Verstappen added.

“The PU and car can still be improved but it's all looking a lot better now.”