Red Bull: Ferrari pace means nothing now

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes it is too soon to say that Ferrari are the definite favourites in 2019, having made a strong start to pre-season testing. Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were quickly on the pace in the first test last week, prompting nervous glances from reigning champions Mercedes.

The Scuderia appear to hold the upper hand at the moment, but it remains to be seen as Formula 1 teams up and down the grid begin to push the limits of their 2019 challengers more in the second test this week.

Ferrari looked to hold a significant pace advantage at this point last year also, but Mercedes won both championships regardless, and Horner says that the red cars' strength means nothing this early in the year.

"If there was a winter world championship, Ferrari would win it every year," he told Marca. "But you get no points in the winter.

"Clearly they have arrived here with a strong car, but these are not even close to the temperatures we will race at."

Indeed, Red Bull have sounded extremely bullish about their new works relationship with Honda.

"There is a change of rules this year, so the winter test times are somewhat confusing right now," Horner explained.

"I don't think they give us a good idea of what the first race will be like, although I could be wrong. But the tests can be deceptive."

At any rate, Horner says Red Bull is in better shape with Honda compared with the customer Renault engines it gave up at the end of 2018.

"What is certain is that we now have more power than we had last year," he said. "What we don't know is what Ferrari, McLaren and Renault have done over the winter.

"We will only have a real vision of the situation after the first three or four races. We're touching wood, because for the moment the signs are good."

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