Red Bull strategized for a 25-point gap before flexi-wing rules, says Christian Horner. Christian Horner reveals Red Bull’s goal was to stay within 25 points of the lead before the flexi-wing directive.

The words of the Red Bull team principal
From the win in Imola to a fourth place in Monaco — which, in all likelihood, would have been a fifth had Lewis Hamilton not received a grid penalty for impeding Max Verstappen. Red Bull didn’t have a particularly strong weekend in the Principality, but the lead in the Drivers’ standings hasn’t drifted too far. Oscar Piastri finished third, and the gap to Max Verstappen at the top is now 25 points — the exact number awarded for a Grand Prix win.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner emphasized that Max Verstappen’s current deficit to Oscar Piastri is reasonable — essentially in line with what the Milton Keynes squad had targeted during this defensive start to the 2025 season.

“We rolled the dice,” said Christian Horner, referring to the strategy they employed in Monaco. “It didn’t work, and our best option was to hope for a Safety Car, a red flag, or a VSC, because you simply can’t overtake here on track. We extended Max Verstappen’s stint, but in the end, he still had to make a final stop. For Yuki Tsunoda, we did the opposite — bringing him in on the first lap; initially, it looked like it would significantly benefit him, but then everyone started driving very slowly to favour their race tactics. He pretty much stayed on the same set of tyres for the entire race and set his fastest laps at the end when he finally had some clean air, but by then it was done — an extremely tough race for him. We limited the damage. We lost only three points to Oscar, the championship leader, and we go to Barcelona with a 25-point deficit — the equivalent of a race win. That was our target ahead of the technical directive on flexible wings.”