Red Bull an "outside bet" for the title but "things can change" says Horner

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner will not give up on the winning the Formula 1 title despite describing the chances of winning either the drivers' or constructors' titles as an "outside bet".

Mercedes lead the constructors' championship by 106 points from Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton heads the drivers' standings by a margin of 47 points from Max Verstappen.

Conceding the hopes of title glory are slim, Horner pointed out that "things can change."

He said: "I think we have been the outside bet since the Austrian Grand Prix, the first one. We continue to be an outsider and have an outside chance in this championship. It is not quite at the halfway point yet.

"It is a weird old year and things can change, but it is going to have to be quite a change obviously from what we have seen so far.

"They have been extremely dominant to date but that [the Belgian Grand Prix] is Max's sixth consecutive podium, he is still second in the drivers' championship. It's a very strong performance on that side and we just need to find some more performance to hopefully take the fight to them."

In a change made as a cost-saving reaction to the Coronavirus pandemic, teams will run 2020 machinery again in 2021. Very few modifications and upgrades will be permitted with a strict 'token' system being implemented by the FIA.

Horner added: "Well, it is almost like an 18 month year, this one. That is why we are working really hard behind the scenes to get as much performance as we can into the car by the end of this season because what we finish this year, we go into next year with.

"There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes to help close that gap both in Milton Keynes and in Japan."

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