‘They will get it together’ - Christian Horner wary of Mercedes ‘strength in depth’

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner is sure Mercedes “will get it together” and recover their F1 form, identifying their “great strength in depth”.

Red Bull had no competition in F1 2023 as they stormed to both championships.

They won 21 of the 22 races, only missing out at the Singapore Grand Prix in what was a remarkable campaign for the team.

The margin was so great to the teams behind, in terms of points scored, because Red Bull didn’t have a consistent threat.

The pecking order chopped and changed, with Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari and Aston Martin all exchanging places as the second-best team.

As a result, it’s unclear which team will be Red Bull’s nearest challenger in 2024.

Assessing Red Bull’s likely rivals, Horner said: “Mercedes has great strength in depth.

“Obviously, they've had a difficult period, but they've great drivers, and they will get it together, one would assume, at some point; McLaren had a great back end of the year, and Ferrari show flashes of real potential.

“So it's difficult to identify which of those is likely to be the biggest challenger, but you could take your pick almost.”

Horner refused to rule out Aston Martin either, with Fernando Alonso scoring eight podiums in 2023.

While their form did tail off, Horner acknowledged Aston Martin’s “big facilities" and “big resources”.

“They made a huge step at the beginning of the year, but they really tailed off in the second half. I'm sure they're looking to understand why that happened,” he added.

“But they've got big facilities, big resources, and they've recruited a lot of talent into that team, and Fernando was brilliant (last year). He drove fantastically well. For a 42-year-old guy, I thought he was outstanding.”