Red Bull boosted by car development discoveries

Red Bull Racing has seen a recent step forward in performance as a result of understanding its development problems, according to team principal Christian Horner.

Having been expected to challenge Mercedes this season courtesy of new aerodynamic regulations, Red Bull made a step backward relative to Mercedes and Ferrari and scored just one podium in the opening four races. Since Barcelona, the team has closed the gap and Daniel Ricciardo took his third consecutive podium in Montreal.

Horner says Red Bull identified a weakness with its correlation between design simulations and track performance, and that knowledge has been key to recent improvements.

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"We have understood some of the issues, some of the correlation issues, and we know which tools to trust in which area," Horner said. "That has definitely given a clear direction, and for the last three races in particular we have made progress.

"It has given a very clear direction and we definitely closed the gap. [In Canada] we were racing with a Mercedes. It was interesting that Ferrari's race pace did not look anything particularly special."

Asked about chief technical officer Adrian Newey's input in the recent changes to RB13, Horner replied: "Adrian is heavily involved in the direction of development; he wasn't involved in the development over the winter, but he has stepped things up since the Barcelona test.

"For sure we can hopefully become a factor [for race wins] at certain grands prix, and we are getting closer. The target is to close the gap to guys ahead and we are definitely doing that."

With Renault still down on power unit performance compared to Ferrari and Mercedes, Horner insists he is satisfied with the development plan from the French manufacturer.

"We'd love it tomorrow but engine lead times are longer than chassis. There is still a lot of performance on the table, as you can see on [circuits like Montreal]. But the Renault guys are working very hard to try and close that deficit down.