Christian Horner believes Red Bull can still find improvement, despite Renault’s decision not to introduce a major engine update this season.
The Renault power unit has been lagging behind Ferrari and Mercedes so far this season, which has left its customer team struggling to stay at the front of the field.
The manufacturer has said its next big update won’t be until 2018 and it will instead bring small improvements to every race.
Horner told F1.com that Renault’s decision doesn’t change anything for Red Bull.
“You deal with the hand that you’ve got and we will keep on pushing the best we can,” he said. “We are very confident our new partner ExxonMobil will help in performance from this side. And, as I said before, the last three races have been promising.”
Daniel Ricciardo has taken three podiums from the past three races, though Max Verstappen retired from the last race with a power unit problem.
“We knew that Montreal would be tricky, and so will be the next two races, Azerbaijan and Austria,” Horner said.
The team expects to introduce a new engine at the Austrian GP, hoping the regular improvements Renault has been making and the performance ExxonMobil has found will help it impress in front of its home crowd.
