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All Formula 1 teams should be fearful of Racing Point's pace in 2020, according to Red Bull's team principal Christian Horner.
After a somewhat disappointing qualifying session in wet conditions for the Silverstone-based squad, both Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll managed to score points in the race, with the former climbing from P17 to P5.
Racing Point has been making headlines ever since it unveiled its 2020 car, which possesses resemblance to Mercedes' W10
The team is now under investigation by the FIA after Renault lodged a protest over the car's legality following the Styrian Grand Prix, however Racing Point is confident that the complaint will be dismissed.
Horner says that during the second race in Austria, there were some worrying signs for other teams as it was matching the pace of Valtteri Bottas in the front-running Mercedes challenger.
“I think everybody would be worried by the Racing Point,” Horner said. “Perez was quicker than the Mercedes at that point in the race.
“Bearing in mind that Bottas was on tyres that were within one lap of age to the Racing Point, Perez was three or four tenths quicker.”
Perez caught Red Bull's Alexander Albon towards the end of the race, however contact was made between the pair, severely damaging Perez's front wing.
Horner commended Albon for managing to keep Perez behind and is encouraged by the pace of the Thai-British driver compared to Bottas on the medium compound.
MORE: Perez feels 'lucky' to only lose one position after Albon crash
MORE: Red Bull 'just too slow' to fight Mercedes - Verstappen
“So it was very impressive pace that they showed and I think Alex drove incredibly well to keep them behind,” he said.
“But also if you look at Alex’s pace on that tyre versus Bottas, again there was encouragement that we can take from that in a car that wasn’t carrying any damage.”
Mercedes has won the opening two races of the year, leading to questions if Red Bull can successfully challenge the German manufacturer for the title this year.
Horner says that he hopes “we’ll be more competitive in Hungary” as it's “a different type of venue” compared to Austria.
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C. Sainz jr
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Replies (3)
Login to replyDert38
Posts: 377
So Horny :)))
f1ski
Posts: 726
I think what is worrying is that the engineers have a real car that works well. They have their old car to compare to it. This is real data not modeled data. They now better understand what works what doesn't and are smarter moving forward.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
"Mercedes has won the opening two races of the year, leading to questions if Red Bull can successfully challenge the German manufacturer for the title this year."
In terms of the constructor's title, they likely cannot. But if Bottas put up enough of a fight, there is still time for Max to mount a challenge. Ferrari, on the other hand, is completely out of it, and will be lucky to get P5.