As Red Bull has won every round so far in 2023, Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin and - following the British Grand Prix last weekend - now McLaren have fought to be the second-fastest team.
Factors such as track characteristics, the rate and effectiveness of upgrades and strategy decisions have created a considerable variation in competitiveness from one weekend to the next.
This means, although it is Mercedes that currently lies second in the constructors’ standings with a 22-point lead over Aston Martin, no single team has emerged as the next-best compared to Red Bull on truly regular basis.
Rather than these shifting goalposts making it hard for Red Bull to pick out and focus on a consistent rival to beat, team principal Horner in fact says the in-fighting makes it “easier” for his squad.
He said: “It makes it easier in many respects. It means that we just focus on ourselves and it’s somebody else every weekend.
“It’s interesting to see how the form is moving around and it’s so tyre sensitive as well.
“We had another tyre, another construction introduced this weekend [at Silverstone] and that has probably come into play a little as well.”
Source: Autosport