- Red Bull
'You don't become idiots overnight' - Horner
Christian Horner insists Red Bull has not suddenly become a bad team despite their well-documented struggles over the winter testing period.
Red Bull look unlikely to be among the frontrunners in Australia and may even have a job on their hands to even finish the race after struggling to complete long stints during pre-season. Horner confirms the team are working hard to rectify the problems ahead of the season opener in just over a week's time.
"You don't become idiots overnight," Horner told the Telegraph. "We've got a very strong group of people here. There's a real determination. You only have to look at the amount of hours going in. It's massive. Some superhuman efforts are going in to get on top of the issues, to try and ensure we're in as good a shape as we can be in Melbourne and build from there. It's a marathon of a grand prix season, rather than a sprint."
While pre-season is often a time of smoke and mirrors across the paddock, Horner is not sugar-coating the problems Red Bull is facing.
"After testing we quite clearly have a car which doesn't have the ultimate pace, and doesn't have the reliability. So they are fairly two fundamental factors that we need to get on top of."
Horner also admits he is unsure whether the team will even make it out of Q1 in Melbourne.
"To be honest with you, we have no real idea. We know we don't have the pace to challenge the Mercedes teams at the moment, but it's very much a case of see where we are in Melbourne. Then we know the scale and magnitude of what we have to climb. We don't even know our starting point at the moment, so it's impossible to make predictions sitting here in Milton Keynes a week prior to the first race. But I have every confidence in the team, and in Renault, that we can make it. Our target is [to catch up] as soon as possible."
"We have enjoyed great success in the last five years, and we've got a very talented group of people. It's exactly the same group of people designing the current car. I don't think we're paying too much attention to what people are saying."
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