'We still won': Red Bull's Christian Horner claps back at Mercedes for 'downgrade' comment
Formula One: Christian Horner has hit back at Mercedes
Red Bull Formula 1 team boss Christian Horner has clapped back at Mercedes after Max Verstappen won the Canadian Grand Prix. Horner responded to Mercedes technical director James Allison who claimed that Red Bull had made their car slower by introducing new updates.
Verstappen won the race in Montreal when pundits and fans had expected him to struggle, especially after Red Bull's weakness on the kerbs came to light in the last few weeks.
"Even with our downgrade, we managed to beat their upgrade. It was a rewarding race to win. The last couple of races have been more choppy waters for us, but we have still managed to win two out of the last three races," said Horner.
“We had a pole in Imola, we managed to match the pole time here with a car that both drivers are feeling its deficiencies. So there is a lot of focus on that to see if we can improve that," he added.
Horner played down Mercedes' performance in the Canadian GP saying the German team had always done well in green circuits where there are no real high-speed corners.
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What did Allison say?
In the lead-up to the race, Allison reckoned that RB20 and the big upgrade package attached to it had done more harm to the car that was touted vastly ahead of the pack at the start of the season.
“It does look as if their upgrade was a downgrade. So, fingers crossed that would really mess them up," said Allison.
"That [an upgrade not working] makes life hard, because the moment you stop trusting your tools, you have to backtrack, and you lose loads of time. Time is your biggest friend, losing it is your worst enemy," he added.
Quizzed if witnessing Red Bull struggle and fall back into the pack had given Mercedes a spark of excitement, Allison said: "Everyone always loves other people's misery in this game."
While Mercedes started the season poorly, there have been signs of resurgence with George Russell finishing on the podium in Montreal in what was a rain-affected race.
Notably, Mercedes had also added some upgrade elements to its W15 during the weekend to help bolster the impact of a new front wing that Russell first sported in Monaco.
(With inputs from agencies)