After the two squads that fought for the 2021 world titles ended up racing in very different parts of the F1 pecking order at the start of the new ground-effect era, there was much expectation that Mercedes – along with Ferrari – might be able to close the gap to Red Bull’s new position as the championship’s dominator.
Both teams eventually adopted Red Bull’s downwash sidepod concept as the end of the 2023 campaign’s first half approached, but Horner told Autosport in an exclusive interview at the Abu Dhabi season finale that his team had been surprised to see Mercedes and Ferrari had not taken that approach during the winter.
