Christian Horner was keen to manage expectations of his Red Bull team despite eye catching predictions made by their Mercedes rivals.
Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were untouchable at the Bahrain Grand Prix last weekend as they clearly had by far the quickest cars on the grid. The Dutchman took the chequered flag 38 seconds ahead of third-placed Fernando Alonso – and that was without pushing his car to the limit.
So dominant were the defending champions in Bahrain that their rivals are already making grand predictions about them. George Russell turned heads when, immediately after the race, he tipped Verstappen and Perez to win all 23 races this year between them.
"Red Bull have got this championship sewn up – I don't think anybody is going to be fighting with them this year," said the Brit. "I expect them to – or they should – win every single race this season."
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff agrees with his driver. Even though there are still 22 races to go, the Austrian recognises that his team's biggest rivals are simply in a league of their own this year when it comes to car performance.
He told OE24 : "With my sporting aspirations, it was bad to see our deficit. We don't want to finish second, we want to win. But there is a team miles ahead. They are playing with the competition – they don't even have tyre wear. After the first Grand Prix I also believe that they will win every race this year."
Horner will no doubt be thrilled by how his team performed in Bahrain. While he would very much like it if those lofty predictions about Red Bull came true, he was keen not to add to the hype as he spoke after the race.
He said: "Twenty-three races is a marathon. It's about being consistent over the campaign. Today was a great start but we fully expect our rivals to come back hard in future races. None of us are getting carried away with one result. The surface of this track is quite unique.
"It was a well-executed Grand Prix and after last year when we came away with zero points, to have 43 this year feels like a good response. But we've only got one dataset so we're not taking anything for granted. Let's see Jeddah and then Melbourne. Once we've seen two or three races we'll have a better idea."
