LONDON: Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Tuesday his outfit would give Mercedes a closer-run contest than they did last year come the new Formula One season.
Mercedes won the Constructors Championship last season and although Red Bull were runners-up they were still nearly 300 points behind the title-winners.
“Mercedes are the benchmark, as the reigning champions, as favourites for this year after having a significant advantage at the end of last year,” said Horner, ahead of this season’s first test in Jerez from Sunday.
“Hopefully we will have made significant inroads into that advantage, but the question is ‘What have they done over the winter? What have the other teams done?’. But we have an opportunity this year. You can strategically upgrade over the year on your different power units,” added Horner, with French manufacturer Renault supplying Red Bull’s engines.