Hamilton is the clear favourite, says Horner

Red Bull team principal believes Mercedes will lead the pack.


News Desk March 11, 2014
Red Bull conquered the 2013 season, ending with nine consecutive victories to stamp their authority on the Formula One circuit. Photo: AFP/FILE

Red Bull team Principal Christian Horner feels that Mercedes’ is the team to beat on the track at the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix on March 16, according to ESPN.

Horner believes the star performer Lewis Hamilton, will be the one to beat as his team is the clear favourite to win.

“You could well see more of it [domination],” said Horner. “Perhaps not from us, but from Mercedes, if they were to finish two laps ahead of the opposition in Melbourne, that wouldn’t be a surprise, based on what we’ve seen in pre-season testing.

It’s massive. What we know about Lewis Hamilton is that he is extremely talented, naturally fast and he’s in a good team, so he’s got to be the favourite going into the season.”

Red Bull conquered the 2013 season, ending with nine consecutive victories to stamp their authority on the Formula One circuit.

The outright dominance of the team made their pre-season difficulties all the more observable.

Despite drivers like Jenson Button suggesting that this season will be more competitive because of equal car performances in testing, Horner believes that it will not be a level playing field as Hamilton’s Mercedes will be at a huge advantage.

Notwithstanding a lacklustre performance by his team at the pre-season tests, Horner believes the Renault-powered teams who are struggling, can make a comeback.

“From what we can see at the moment, Mercedes are in a pretty decent shape and we’re not. We’re on the back foot, and have a lot of ground to cover,” he said.

“They [Renault] will catch up, they quite simply have to. We would hope by the time we arrive back in Europe that we’re seeing significant improvements.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12th, 2014.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.

 

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ