Red Bull Racing will take a step forward in 2008

The boss of the Red Bull team, Christian Horner, is confident that the team will make a step forward in terms of performance in 2008. However, he did not engage in making predictions about the team’s competitiveness and the new cars.

The team achieved its best constructor’s championship ranking in 2007 with a 5th place and a tough fight for the 4th place eventually won by Williams.

Horner indicated that the team’s goal was to pick up the work where it left off at the end of 2007.

“We were competitive in the last three races of 2007 and we are looking to restart from that exact point with the new car,” said Horner.

Ferrari and McLaren will obviously be extremely competitive. After these two teams, I predict a fairly tight group in which we hope to be present with BMW, Renault, Williams, and who knows with Toyota and Honda.

« It is very difficult to make predictions at this time of year. We are confident that we have made good progress with this car. So we will see the first results in Melbourne. But we are satisfied with the progress we had made on the RB3. »

He believes that continuity will play an essential role for Red Bull in the 2008 season. Renault will continue to supply engines to the Austrian team and Adrian Newey will remain our technical director.

« It’s not up to two or three people. We have 570 people at Red Bull Racing, which is a mid-sized team in Formula 1. We need to rely on all departments so that everyone contributes to the performance of the car, » he added.

Newey was also reluctant to make a firm prediction about Red Bull Racing’s potential in 2008.

« To be honest, I don’t want to make any predictions. We expect a step forward but I am not ready to quantify this progress, » he said.

« It takes time for things to change. We are still a young team, and we do not yet have all the infrastructure that all the big teams have at their disposal because it takes time. »

« We have already made progress in terms of engineering. The arrival of Geoff Willis has brought a breath of fresh air. He is working to ensure that things change to improve our productivity and reliability, » Newey concluded.