Horner cautious despite Verstappen's good start: "No illusions"

"That depends very much on what Mercedes does. They have been the benchmark for years and they will continue to be," Horner is quoted in Bahrain by the likes of Formula1.nl. The winter was very short and then there was a lockdown."It wasn't easy, for anyone, although I think the team handled it well. However, we are under no illusions: Mercedes are the favourites."

Early in the morning session, Verstappen spun in the RB16B. It was an image we saw regularly last year too, but according to Horner, it's not something to worry about. "I think that was because of the wind. Max of course indicated some points to fine-tune, but nothing fundamental," the top man explained.

The Friday afternoon session is still difficult for all teams. The circumstances are bad. There's a lot of wind and sand on the track. The grip is therefore hard to find. For the racing teams, it doesn't make sense to go out on the track now, because a lot of the data won't be representative.