Horner: "The gap with Mercedes is bigger than we'd like"

The 2020 Formula 1 season is now five races away, with three different tracks. During the winter tests Red Bull Racing thought they could hunt Mercedes from the very first moment. In reality this turned out not to be entirely true.

The gap to Mercedes

"I think Mercedes is very strong in high speed corners. We are well on our way in the slow ones", says Red Bull team boss Horner in an interview with Auto, Motor und Sport. Horner also believes that Mercedes has made great strides with their engine during the winter months.

Red Bull didn't quite achieve a number of goals after the winter tests. The team seemed to be close to Mercedes in Barcelona last February, but in the first four races it became painfully clear that Mercedes had a big lead. It wasn't until the fifth race of the year that Red Bull hurt Mercedes with a victory for Max Verstappen.

Comparing winter tests with races

"What arrived on the track didn't quite match the results our tools had promised. We had to understand that first. Hopefully we'll solve some of these problems in the near future", Horner continues his story, adding that winter tests and races are not comparable. "Winter tests are winter tests and not races. After that, everyone brings major upgrades. And most of all, you rely on the virtual world."

"While driving in Austria, we discovered a number of features in our car with which we were not satisfied. The team is working very hard to solve them. Our car gets better every weekend. The drivers confirm this too. We have the second fastest car, but the gap with Mercedes is bigger than we would like", Horner ends.