Red Bull claims 2022 will be 'a season of hard development'

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has reiterated that the upcoming 2022 F1 season will be one of 'hard development' for his team.

After an impressive showing in pre-season in Barcelona and Bahrain, the Briton was asked if he was confident heading into the first Grand Prix of the year. Horner said:

“Well, the whole technical team have done a tremendous job. I mean last year was such an intense title fight. That obviously drew us into developing RB16B later into the season than would have been ideal for such a new set of regulations. So I think the hard work, the long days, the weekends that have worked by the whole technical group to come out with a car that… we felt we would very much be on the back foot coming into this season, but I think we have got a good foundation. It’s going to be a season of hard development but yeah, confidence is high in the group. It’s great to see that number one on the car and that gives everybody a real lift and excited to be going racing again.”

Red Bull's optimism about the new RB18 paid off in qualifying after Max Verstappen secured P2 on the grid behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc with a time of 1:30.681 in Q3 on Saturday.

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Red Bull boss claims Ferrari's pace is the only consistent thing in 2022 F1 season

Amidst all the uncertainties brought about by the 2022 F1 regulatory changes, Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes Ferrari's pace and performance is the only consistency so far this year.

In conversation during an interview with F1 TV, Horner mentioned that it is impossible to predict the order of the cars going into the season opener in Bahrain. The Briton said:

“I think the one consistent thing you see is every time the Ferrari is on track, it looks competitive. The McLaren, when it’s running, [also] looks competitive. Mercedes, I think, haven’t shown their hand yet, and the car looks a bit of a handful to drive. But then there’s surprises, like the Williams pace on the long run looks quite competitive, so the form book is impossible to predict.”

The Scuderia managed to claim the first pole position of 2022 after Charles Leclerc put in a time of 1:30.558 in his Ferrari F1-75, fractions ahead of Verstappen and Red Bull.