Red Bull Technical Director Christian Horner has denied claims that many within Max Verstappen’s Formula 1 team disagree with the team’s dip in form.

Although the Austrian team started the season in a dominant manner once again, Verstappen could not establish an advantage while closing in on his rivals in the last three races.

Verstappen appeared to be in a disgruntled mood at the Hungaroring throughout the weekend as Red Bull’s latest upgrade package failed to ward off McLaren’s ongoing threat.

The Dutch driver, who finished third behind the two McLaren drivers, voiced his concerns about Red Bull’s title hopes, saying “some people need to wake up a bit”.

Verstappen’s nerves were tested in the race; strategic errors and a collision with Lewis Hamilton in the final minutes reduced his points gap and he finished the race in fifth place.

But Horner says the entire Red Bull squad is aware that their team needs to step up its performance after McLaren narrowed its points gap to 51.

“Everyone sees that we need to find more performance and everyone is working hard to achieve that,” he said. “We will have all kinds of discussions behind closed doors.”

Verstappen lamented having to “go over the edge” on just one lap to even take part in the race, having come in less than a tenth of a second short of taking pole position.

But the three-time F1 champion said he was not optimistic about Red Bull’s race pace and was justified by expressing regret over struggling with excessive understeer.

Asked if Verstappen was pushing the limits with the RB20, Horner said: “As a team, we are working very hard to continue to develop the car. It is something that is not static.

“We’ve been working constantly, there’s a team back in the UK that has been working incredibly hard and it’s been a huge effort to bring that upgrade for this race.

“There were some positives from that and obviously we will try to apply that going forward. The car will be in a different specification again next weekend.”

Although Horner reiterated that a merger with static regulations was inevitable, he acknowledged that Red Bull needed to improve the way it runs races at the remaining events.

“With stable adjustments, marginal gains enter a curve where gains become harder and harder to find, that’s normal, that’s the normal cycle,” he said.

“I’ve been in this business for 20 years, that’s what it is.

“That doesn’t mean you have to accept it, you just have to work harder to find the incremental gains, to have good races and to be at the top of your game.

“We know we need to improve in the second half of the year.”