Red Bull consultant Franz Tost has issued a stark warning that the team's championship hopes could be "over" if their Imola upgrade fails to deliver a significant performance boost.
Amid speculation that outgoing Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes could be headed to Red Bull, Christian Horner downplayed the importance of the much-discussed Imola upgrade package.
"There is no big update for Imola," Horner said in Miami. "I don't know where that's come from."
However, Franz Tost, the former Toro Rosso and AlphaTauri team boss now serving as a part-time Red Bull consultant, stressed the critical nature of the Imola upgrades. "It has to be right," he told Sport1, "and that also applies to Ferrari and Mercedes.
"Otherwise, this world championship is over and McLaren will continue to dominate the rest of the season. Then, even an exceptional driver like Max Verstappen won't be able to do anything."
Horner, meanwhile, pointed to the Spanish GP as a key moment, where an FIA clampdown on flexible front wings is expected to diminish McLaren's advantage. "It will be a change," he said. "How that will affect the different cars with the stiffening of the front wings? Who knows how that will play out."
Red Bull's struggles were laid bare in Miami, where a new floor design on Verstappen's car failed to close the gap to McLaren, with a race pace deficit of seven tenths per lap. "Our tyres are still overheating," the quadruple world champion said when asked about the new floor.
"The car still doesn't make it easy for me. The balance is just not right."
Team advisor Dr Helmut Marko admitted the Miami floor fell short of expectations. "We expected more from it," he said. "But it just wasn't enough."
Reflecting on McLaren's pace, Marko added, "They were between seven tenths and one second faster per lap. That's pretty depressing."
