Horner thinks Mercedes is the favourite

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is sure Mercedes is the team to beat. The Briton admitted that Mercedes may carry its form over from the previous years, although he expects his team to show high development rate during the forthcoming season.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton said during the second test week in Barcelona that his team was suffering from different problems including setup issues and picked Ferrari out as the team to be the squad to beat. However, Christian Horner was less sure about the potential of Ferrari and he rather put Mercedes in the spotlight.

“Probably Lewis declares Sauber to be his main rival. He only tries to put so much pressure on others as possible. Contrary, he is the real favourite. He is the clear number one at Mercedes now. He is a bigger favourite than ever in my eyes.”

“Mercedes won more than 50 GPs in the last three years. We won five, Ferrari three. It would be wonderful to have wheel to wheel battles at every weekend so that only the race on Sunday would show who has the upper hand.”

Red Bull had many ups and downs during the eight test days in Barcelona. The team showed good consistency during its long run simulations and set good times on lower fuel loads, but on some days the drivers complained about the setup of the new challenger.

Horner is hopeful that his squad built a good platform which can be developed during the year.

“Mercedes is the absolute favourite. Ferrari seems to have built a very solid car and we are confident that we have also built a good car. We have a strong team which can develop intensively during the whole season.”