Christian Horner issues Ferrari prediction after Red Bull’s 1-2 finish at Imola

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Christian Horner has predicted that Red Bull's title battle with Ferrari will be 'super-competitive' throughout the course of the season, with the result at Imola seeing the gap closed.

Red Bull secured a rare 1-2 finish in Ferrari's home race, with Max Verstappen easing his way to victory ahead of Sergio Perez and McLaren's Lando Norris taking the final spot on the podium following Charles Leclerc's late error.

The championship leader was chasing down Perez on soft tyres as he looked to increase his points tally and decrease the dent Verstappen was set to put on his advantage but suffered as a late spin led him to require another pit and a new front wing.

Leclerc exited the pits in ninth and, while he took three places back to finish sixth, it resulted in a day to forget for Ferrari – with Carlos Sainz' race lasting just a few corners before contact with Daniel Ricciardo led to another unfinished race for the Spaniard.

The result has rejuvenated Verstappen's title defence, having failed to finish two of the first three races, but Horner believes it's just one twist in a long and winding battle between the two teams that will last the entirety of the season.

"Ferrari has a great car, with great drivers, they've been unlucky in this race. They're going to be super-competitive in two weeks' time [in Miami] and I think it's going to be like that all season."

Red Bull's points haul was made even more important following Leclerc's late spin, following on from Carlos Sainz' exit on the first lap, and Horner assessed that the mistake from the championship leader came because he was 'too greedy'.

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"He [Leclerc] was pushing very hard all race. You could see at turn 14 at the chicane, that was the one part of the track where he was consistently quicker than Checo and it looked like he got a little bit too greedy on the soft tyre.

"Mistakes can happen, though he was actually lucky to finish the race and get sixth place. It was a bonus for us to take a few extra points."

Leclerc remains top of the Driver's Championship but Verstappen surged to second and now sits 27 points the leader, with Perez a further five points behind his teammate, while Sainz slipped to fifth following his second DNF in a row.

  • Formula One
  • F1
  • Red Bull Racing
  • Ferrari

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