Red Bull faces an “impossible” McLaren battle despite a “magical” upgrade

Ferrari’s “role” in the title fight

Günther Steiner believes it is not “possible” for Red Bull to catch McLaren this season despite a supposed “magic” upgrade for the United States Grand Prix.

The former Haas team boss is clear that Red Bull will be introducing a new circuit for the upcoming race at the Circuit of the Americas, marking the start of a triple-header with Mexico and Brazil.

Red Bull is 41 points behind McLaren in the F1 Constructors' Championship after Max Verstappen took an unexpected podium finish in Singapore recently.

It was a promising result for the reigning constructors' champion ahead of the unusual three-week autumn break that the teams are currently enjoying given Red Bull's recent problems with its RB20.

Although it has been suggested that this gap between races could give Red Bull time to get to grips with the car's problems, Steiner does not believe this is of any advantage.

“Everything is planned in advance,” said Steiner Red Flags Podcast. “I don’t think there’s any advantage because what’s coming to Austin is already developed.”

“Of course you can prepare better, but they are still very well prepared. If you have a week or three weeks, I don’t think the level of preparation will be any different.”

“I think the big question is, how big is this upgrade – this apparent magic floor coming to Austin – will help them catch up to McLaren again?”

“I think that’s the big question. The rest is pretty easy.”

Ferrari should play a key role – Steiner

Even if Red Bull's rumored new ground ends the team's recent woes, Steiner still believes it won't be enough to topple McLaren.

The 59-year-old was stunned by McLaren's performance in Singapore at the Marina Bay Circuit, where Norris dominated the entire weekend.

While Steiner doesn't believe the Woking-based team can be caught, he believes Ferrari will play an important role in the title race.

“I don’t think it will be possible to catch up with McLaren this year,” said Steiner. “What they showed in Singapore was just incredible to me. It was incredible.”

“I think Ferrari can play a bigger role in the World Championship than in Singapore because in theory they should have been ahead of Max but they didn't qualify ahead of them, both of them.”

“So there was no red flag, no safety car, nothing in Singapore that could have helped them move forward. So they had to fight through it, which wasn’t easy.”

“As you also saw with Oscar Piastri, in places like Singapore it is simply more difficult than any other place when you are in dirty air.”

“I think McLaren is doing well, but Max will fight until the end to retain the championship.”