Red Bull Formula 1 team boss Christian Horner admitted he felt Max Verstappen's fourth world championship was looking like a tall order by September's Italian Grand Prix, in the face of McLaren's resurgence.
Red Bull's RB20 was F1's strongest car in the opening stages of 2024, with it looking likely Verstappen and the team would continue their streak of dominance that saw the Dutchman win 19 out of 22 races in 2023.
But Red Bull's turn as F1's dominant force came to an end at May's Miami Grand Prix, when the team started struggling with car balance. The same week, McLaren made a leap forward with a comprehensive upgrade package that saw Lando Norris win his maiden grand prix.
Verstappen still won three of the next four races, but then began a 10-round winless streak while McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes all took turns at the front and the former established a constructors' championship lead it still holds with two races to go.
But as Verstappen claimed his fourth straight drivers' title in Las Vegas, team principal Horner revealed he feared the Dutchman's campaign was collapsing in Monza, where Red Bull suffered its worst weekend yet.
When asked if he agreed with Verstappen's assessment that, for 70 percent of the year, Red Bull didn't have the quickest car, Horner replied: "I would say it's about right. Since Miami, I would say that was a turning point.
"The car was very difficult to drive, but he was able to adapt and get the most out of it. I think we've improved it in latter races, but certainly around Monza time, it looked like the championship was slipping away.
"There was still a long way of the championship to go, and we had a significant disadvantage to McLaren, Ferrari and even the Mercedes at that point."
While Monza was Red Bull's lowest ebb on track, with Verstappen finishing 38 seconds behind winner Charles Leclerc in sixth, it also provided the start of a solution to cure the RB20's balance issues. Although Red Bull never regained the upper hand on McLaren in particular, Verstappen and the team were able to make enough progress to stifle Norris' fightback.
"The engineers have worked tirelessly, and the men and women behind the scenes have worked long hours, early mornings, weekends to keep getting performance to the car," Horner said.
"For me, a real turning point was Austin, getting a sprint race victory there, getting on the front row for the grand prix, the podium that he scored there. And then, of course, Brazil [where Verstappen dominated a wet race from 17th on the grid] was really the crowning moment in many respects, it was such an outstanding drive that provided the match point."
