Red Bull chief Christian Horner 'not underestimating' Mercedes or Ferrari in the 2022 F1 Constructors Championship despite acquiring an early lead

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said that he wasn’t underestimating either Mercedes or Ferrari in the battle for the 2022 constructors championship despite his team’s substantial lead. Given that it's still early in the season, Horner believes that a “bid swing” in points could easily rob his team of the championship lead.

Speaking to Mirror UK during the Austrian GP weekend, he said:

“There’s such a long way to go and we’ve seen such big swings in points. Ferrari have a great car and competitive drivers, and Mercedes...I wouldn’t discount them from the championship just yet, so there’s a long, long way to go and an awful lot of racing, and a lot of points available.”

He added:

“We are only at the halfway point, so anything is possible. We don’t rule out or underestimate any of our opponents. They’ve won the constructors’ championship for the last eight consecutive seasons, so we’d be fairly foolhardy to underestimate them.”

Despite its reliability woes, Ferrari has hit back at Red Bull in the last few races, having taken two consecutive victories in Austria and Great Britain. A low-downforce/low-drag spec rear wing seems to be helping the Scuderia address some of its key weaknesses against Milton Keynes.

Meanwhile, Mercedes has continued to make improvements to its car while scoring consistently in every race. Despite the German team's early-season woes, it is not far off the front runners and could very well pose a threat to both Red Bull and Ferrari if it manages to unlock the full potential of the W13.

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“Sensitive 2022 F1 tires” cost Red Bull the victory in Austrian, says Christian Horner

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said that a “strange tire degradation” issue on Max Verstappen’s car cost the team a potential victory at the Austrian GP last weekend.

The Briton said that the team was puzzled by the unexpectedly high tire degradation, and attributed the issue to the “sensitive nature” of the 2022 tires. Speaking to MSN Sports in a post-race interview, he said:

“It was strange. I think the problem is these tyres are quite sensitive and, if you’re not in the right window with them, then you can pay a penalty in terms of degradation, which a lot of teams did.”

After delivering a dominating performance to take his second successive Sprint victory on Saturday, Max Verstappen could only manage a distant second on Sunday’s main event. The Dutchman struggled with tirewear throughout the race and had to switch to a two-stop strategy midway through the race.