Horner: 'All focus on making the car faster rather than solving problems'

Red Bull Racing look set to emerge from the winter test as a serious contender for Mercedes for the first time in years, with the chance to make things difficult for the world champions right from the first race. Christian Horner also realises that a good start is important, especially as he doesn't want to underestimate Mercedes as a team.

"It's a long season, 23 races is a huge season this year, but it's really important for us to get off to a good start," the Red Bull Racing team boss said on Sky Sports' 'The F1 Show'. "Mercedes' test was probably a bit messy by their standards, but they are such a good team, it would be foolish to underestimate them. We saw their ability to bounce back a few years ago, when they seemed to underperform in Barcelona and then won very comfortably in Australia."

Yet even Horner cannot deny that it has been a very good test for Red Bull Racing in Bahrain. Both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were not only fast, but also drove a huge number of laps on the first two days of testing. As reliability was in order at the same time, the team can now fully focus on making the car faster.

"It's good for us to go to the race in Bahrain with a reasonable mileage, a reasonable feel for the car and of course all the focus is now on trying to make the car faster rather than solving problems," Horner said.