Red Bull has continued to make small strides in the first season of the V6 era and will continue to work hard to get "marginal gains on track", said team principal Christian Horner Friday ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend.
Red Bull, which won four consecutive constructors' titles over the past four years, struggled in the first races of the 2014 season to adapt to new regulations but Horner said its performance in the last few races have been very strong, reports Xinhua.
"It's important to remember that the V6 era is in its infancy. The biggest challenge we had at the start of the year was reliability," he said.
With six races to go, Red Bull is now runner-up but is 182 points down compared to Mercedes' 454. In the drivers' standings, Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton are on the top-2 positions with 238 and 216 points, respectively.
The car development has been especially important this season since the 2.4 litre V8 engine was replaced by the 1.6 litre turbo-charged V6 hybrid engine. It is believed to be the biggest change of rules in the last 10 years.
The Red Bull is down on brake horse power, making it difficult for the team to compete on circuits where it is typically helpful to have more powerful cars.
Horner said that there hasn't been any significant leaps forward. However, he added that Red Bull has had some steps forward in engine mapping and fuel formulations but is still some way down on power.