Horner rejects 'ominous' Brundle concern after sweeping changes

Christian Horner has rejected an "ominous" suggestion posed by Martin Brundle after all four cars within the Red Bull family needed power unit component changes to leave them on the brink of grid penalties. On Friday, ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, the cars of Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda, and the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar, were handed new control electronics units and energy stores. With only two of each component allowed for a 24-race season, to switch to the second at only the fourth race of the campaign, would suggest the four drivers will face a grid penalty later in the year. Former F1 driver and Sky Sports F1's expert pundit Brundle suggested to Horner the situation was "ominous" for four-time champion Verstappen et al. Horner, though, batted away the remark. "Not really," said the Red Bull team principal. "It depends on how you want to cycle them because they go in and out [of the cars]. "It's not like the first one is now put on the shelf, so that will be reintroduced. It's how they circulate them at the different events. "So no alarm bells are ringing at the moment in terms of we're going to run short of those units later in the year." Red Bull heads into the weekend on a high following Verstappen's stunning triumph in Japan last Sunday that was against the odds given the McLaren threat and perceived dominance of the MCL39 in the hands of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Verstappen endured another difficult Friday of practice in Bahrain, with the Dutch driver off the pace of the comfortably quicker McLaren duo. Despite Verstappen's Japan triumph, Horner always respected the fact Bahrain and Saudi Arabia next weekend will be difficult for Red Bull. "That [win] injected such enthusiasm into the whole team," said Horner. "I went back to Milton Keynes, straight from Japan, and you could feel the energy that a win like that brings. We're absolutely in the drivers' championship. "But we're very clear that we need to find performance now. Unfortunately, these next two circuits are going to play very much to the advantages of McLaren. I think the high temperatures will suit them quite well. They seem very good at cooling their tyres. "So we're going to have to work hard and we'll see what we get."