Formula 1: Christian Horner believes Red Bull Racing are in championship contention

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner believes that the team are still in contention to win the 2018 Formula 1 constructor championship.

Following Max Verstappen’s first victory of the 2018 Formula 1 season in the 71-lap Austrian Grand Prix at the 10-turn, 2.683-mile (4.318-kilometer) Red Bull Ring road course in Spielberg, Styria, Austria, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner revealed his thoughts about the team’s chances to win this year’s constructor championship.

With nine races down and 12 races to go in this 21-race 2018 season, Horner believes that Red Bull Racing, which sit third in the constructor standings right now, still have a chance to earn their first constructor championship since the 2013 season.

Here is what Horner had to say about the matter, according to Formula 1.

"“Nine races, three victories, the same amount of wins as Ferrari and Mercedes. Our Achilles heel has been not scoring with both cars, either through reliability our other incidents.“Formula 1 is full of ifs, buts and maybes, but if you look at the positions that we were in and should have been in then we should be leading the championship today – but the scoreboard is slightly different to that.“We’ve closed the gap over the last few races, and there’s still a long, long way to go. What are there, 12 races left? So I think you’d have to consider us as an outside contender. Certainly our determination within the team is to keep pushing and try and ensure that we’re getting both cars ahead of our opponents.“There are some circuits coming up that should play to our strengths, places like Hungary and Singapore. There are circuits that will not be so good for us but one of our major assets is as a race team we are extremely versatile. We’ve been very creative on strategy. As a team, the team is working extremely well.“So I think there is a chance in both championships and we certainly haven’t written anything off at this point in the year.”"

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Red Bull Racing currently trail Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport in the constructor standings. Ferrari lead with 247 points, while Mercedes sit in second place a total of 10 points behind Ferrari with 237 points and Red Bull Racing sit in third a total of 58 points behind Ferrari with 189 points.

All three teams have earned three victories so far this season, but Red Bull Racing are the only one of those three teams that have earned their three victories as a result of the fact that both of their drivers have won at least one race in 2018.

If not for a disastrous slew of blown opportunities, including both human errors and mechanical errors alike, experienced by the Milton Keynes-based team earlier this season, they would be much closer to the top of the constructor standings, so Horner’s claim may not be quite as bold as it seems.

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Do you believe that Red Bull Racing are still in contention to win the 2018 Formula 1 constructor championship with 12 races left this season? If so, do you believe that they will beat Mercedes and Ferrari and win it? Tune in to ESPN this Sunday, July 8 at 9:10 a.m. ET for the live broadcast of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit to see if they can keep their momentum going following Max Verstappen’s victory in the Austrian Grand Prix.