Horner sees opportunities: ''Mercedes made a mistake, but got away with it''

Toto Wolff has already indicated that the battle between Red Bull Racing and Mercedes is about to begin. After a number of protests during the weekend in Austria, Mercedes will no longer give in to Red Bull either.

''It was interesting to hear Toto's comments after the race about the gloves being off. Rivalry between the drivers and between the teams is what matters, as long as it's respectful and in many ways the gloves are always off," says Christian Horner in his column for Red Bull Racing.

The Brit also looks back on the missed opportunity in that race. ''We had a good strategy and they had a very fast car that won in the end. I think they made the wrong strategic move on the last Safety Car, but they got away with it. Mercedes has a very fast car, but if we can develop ours to bring the fight to them, then we all make mistakes and you can see that, so hopefully we are closer now.''

Horner is very clear about the protest against the DAS and even states that it could have been any louder. ''If we wanted to be tough, we could have done it after qualifying or after the race. I'd talked about it with Toto beforehand because there was no harm in it, I just wanted to be clear about the ambiguity about those rules," concludes Max Verstappen's team boss.