The Dutch racer's streak of four successive world title wins appears set to come to an end this season as he trails McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the championship but the Red Bull chief thinks that his team can get back to winning ways despite rumours linking Verstappen with a move to Mercedes.

Horner told Sky Sports: "I still believe that we have strength in depth in this team.

"Unfortunately, we haven't seen the performance come that we would like. We're at the end of a set of regulations. I think we are compromised by some of the tools that we have.

"But it's the same fundamental group of people that 18 months ago designed a car that won every single grand prix bar one. They didn't suddenly just become idiots overnight.

"You have to acknowledge the great job that McLaren are doing, and congratulations to them."

Horner pointed out that Mercedes are also trailing behind in F1 - as George Russell finished more than a minute behind race winner Norris at the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday (29.06.25).

He said: "I think they [Mercedes] have got their own problems. They were 62 seconds behind the race leader.

"For us, we just focus on ourselves. We know what the situation is with Max. We know what the contracts are with Max, and you know the rest is all noise that's not coming from here."

Verstappen trails championship leader Piastri by 61 points after being taken out on the first lap in Austria by Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli and hopes that others stop asking him about a title bid now.

He said: "Hopefully, then people will not mention it too much anymore.

"We try to do our best, always. My mentality doesn't change. We've won a lot in the past.

"Sometimes you have to accept that you are not winning, and we just try to do the best that we can."