Horner laughs: "Maybe Haas will suddenly come up with a rocket"

Mercedes and Red Bull Racing pushed each other to the limit last season and regularly the question arises whether that intense battle has had any consequences for the development of the 2022 car. Christian Horner makes no guarantees, but the Red Bull team boss is confident that the RB18 can go for wins again.

Horner relaxed

Horner indicated at an earlier stage that it cannot be completely ruled out that Ferrari will be on the grid with the best car in the first race because they focused on the new car last year. At the Dutch branch of Motorsport.com Horner added with a laugh, "Or maybe Haas will suddenly come up with a rocket..."

The 48-year-old Briton realizes that his employees have had a tough year. Horner says that not only did they have to deal with developing two cars, but also with all the restrictions that the coronavirus brought with it. Nevertheless, he knows all too well that Red Bull has a "phenomenal team" and so he is confident about the new car, although he cannot give us any guarantees that Verstappen will be able to fight for his second world title straight away. What happens at the other teams in terms of developments is unknown.

Red Bull must be there right away

In any case, it will be important to be there from the first moment. In the seasons before 2021, Red Bull always came up late and was too far behind Mercedes to be a serious challenger in the world championship. The Austrian racing team will undoubtedly want to avert that scenario for 2022, especially since the new regulations are being introduced.

All teams are starting again from proverbial zero and missing the mark means that months of work have been for nothing. Fixing that during an ongoing season is almost impossible. At the winter tests in Barcelona (23 to 25 February) and Bahrain (10 to 12 March) we will get to see the cars for the first time and we can expect a first indication.