F1 news: Christian Horner tips Mercedes to bounce back ‘very, very quickly’

Mercedes have struggled to find a title-challenging car

Christian Horner’s team had problems of their own (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says Mercedes will bounce back “very, very quickly” from their slow start to the 2022 season.

Mercedes have had car issues which saw them only able to finish third and fourth at the Bahrain Grand Prix. But Horner, whose bitter rivals is Mercedes, has bet they will strike back a lot sooner than many predict.

“I think when you watch their car on circuit it obviously doesn’t look easy for their drivers at the moment,” the Red Bull team boss told the official F1 website, “but what we do know is their ability to bounce back. I mean, they’ve had difficult pre-seasons before and then gone and won the first race.

“So I think until we’ve seen… a sample of three or four races, you’re not going to get a true picture of form and, of course, with the regulations being so immature, the development rate is going to be fast, it’s going to be steep, and of course a team like Mercedes – with the strength and depth that they have – will bounce back very, very quickly if they are on the back foot.”

Red Bull will also have to get their season back on track after both of their cars didn’t finish the Bahrain race. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were left with no points after engine failures forced them to retire.

Horner insists the team’s problem isn’t as bad as Mercedes as they had a better product to begin with.

“The positive side for us is that we clearly have a competitive car,” Horner said, “I don’t think we quite had the pace [on Sunday], but there was some great racing between Max and Charles.

“It’s an incredibly long season with 22 races remaining, so we need to get on top of whatever this issue was and come back stronger next weekend.”