“With the strength and depth that they have” – Christian Horner expects Mercedes to return to winning ways soon, after a disappointing run in the season-opener in Bahrain.
Mercedes underperformed in Bahrain, with Lewis Hamilton lucky to get on the podium. This did not betray the struggles they are going through, endangering their chances of extending their title-winning streak to nine seasons.
But Red Bull team principal Christian Horner expects Mercedes to return to winning ways soon. He believes it is too early to gauge which team is going to fare how and is fearful of the German giants returning to their very best.
“I think when you watch their car on circuit it obviously doesn’t look easy for their drivers at the moment. But what we do know is their ability to bounce back. I mean, they’ve had difficult pre-seasons before and then gone and won the first race.
“So I think until we’ve seen… a sample of three or four races, you’re not going to get a true picture of form and, of course, with the regulations being so immature, the development rate is going to be fast, it’s going to be steep, and of course a team like Mercedes – with the strength and depth that they have – will bounce back very, very quickly if they are on the back foot.”
Red Bull to win Saudi Arabian GP?
Red Bull was going strong in Bahrain until car failures led to both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez without a race finish. But Horner is confident of the team’s chances this weekend, especially with Verstappen giving strong competition to eventual race winner Charles Leclerc.
“The positive side for us is that we clearly have a competitive car, I don’t think we quite had the pace [on Sunday], but there was some great racing between Max and Charles.
“It’s an incredibly long season with 22 races remaining, so we need to get on top of whatever this issue was and come back stronger next weekend.”
