The Belgian Grand Prix was Mercedes’ show through and through. With the superior speed of their upgraded W15s, the Silver Arrows improved vastly after what Lewis Hamilton called a “disastrous” Friday. On the other hand, Max Verstappen performed fairly well after starting the race at the Spa circuit from P11. He went up to the fifth spot, finishing his race only about 0.5s ahead of Lando Norris. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez performed poorly as he pulled up in P8 despite starting the Belgian GP from the second row. However, the recent results do not seem to have dampened the Dutchman’s spirits as he has spotted a silver lining.

While it is true that Red Bull’s car is not the fastest on the grid anymore, Max Verstappen believes his team’s opponents are hurting each other. “It’s positive that one time it’s McLaren the next it’s Mercedes, that they keep stealing points from each other. And that’s definitely what I need until the end of the season,” Verstappen said.

As defending World Champions, Red Bull did not impress with their performance at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. In fact, they have failed to impress at quite a few races recently, with last weekend’s Hungarian GP being a glaring example. While the Spa saw the Silver Arrows take on all the other teams to get a 1-2 finish, it was McLaren who got a similar result in Hungary a week ago. This shows how those two teams have cracked the code for building a racecar that is faster than Red Bull’s RB20.

Currently, the World Constructors’ rankings show Red Bull leading the points table with an advantage of only 43 points over McLaren. But last weekend, Lando Norris reigned supreme, while this time around, it was Lewis Hamilton. So, Verstappen believes their scuffle will keep them from surpassing RBR. But how did his boss Christian Horner react to the Championship fight?

Horner blames Sergio Perez for a threat against Red Bull’s Championship spot

The Hungarian GP saw McLaren inch closer to Red Bull in the Championship Standings. In Belgium, the papaya army scooted even closer. Red Bull is currently leading the World Championship ranks with a mere advantage of 43 points. Naturally, RBR frontman Christian Horner does not like the narrow points gap between his team and McLaren. So, he said, “We can see McLaren taken another 7 or 8 points out of us today in the constructors. We need to stop that. We need to bounce back at the summer break.”

But the Briton noticed a pattern in his team’s scores. While Max Verstappen tries to make the best out of every race, his teammate Sergio Perez has underperformed lately. In the last 3 races, Checo has only scored 11 points. His shortcomings have impacted Red Bull in the fight against McLaren greatly. “We need Checo up there,” Horner said. Even though Perez got a second-row start in Belgium, he dropped to P8 in the Main Race. “Yesterday, he was great in qualifying, and today [didn’t] quite work out,” the Red Bull team principal added.

Well, Red Bull’s Championship plight seems real right now with McLaren and Mercedes both performing well during the race weekends. Starting today, F1 will go into the summer break, so Red Bull will have some time to ponder upon its faults. Do you expect the team to bounce back stronger once the summer ends? Share your opinion in the comment box below.