"They are still 23 seconds behind" - Red Bull boss dismisses Mercedes threat after the team's double podium at the 2023 F1 Spanish GP

Red Bull boss Christian Horner recently dismissed the notion of Mercedes proving to be any kind of threat to his team in the championship. The German squad showed an impressive resurgence in form in Barcelona by securing a double podium. What was even more impressive was the overall race pace of both drivers.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were considerably quicker than Aston Martin and Ferrari and were able to make their way through the field. Both the Mercedes drivers secured podiums and helped the team jump to P2 in the championship standings. While everyone was quite impressed with the jump in performance, Red Bull boss Christian Horner remained confident.

When questioned if Mercedes could prove to be a threat, Christian Horner underlined to Sky Sports that the gap was still 23 seconds between the two teams. He said:

"They are still 23 seconds behind. They made a good step, but we have some stuff in the pipeline, and some bits coming later in the season. They have had a big upgrade. They [Mercedes] are a quality team, and they will put us under pressure in the second half of the season."

He added:

"The form is moving around a bit. If you look at Lando's qualifying lap, and Mercedes looked strong in the race today. The Ferrari's didn't have the pace that we thought they might. It's difficult to predict who will be where at each event."

Red Bull boss on why Sergio Perez missed out on a podium

Red Bull boss Christian Horner, meanwhile, did feel that Sergio Perez missed out on a podium because of his qualifying position. While discussing the Mexican's race, Horner told the aforementioned publication:

"He [Checo] was hunting that podium down at the end of the race there. He lost some ground at the beginning of the race, but his recovery was very, very strong. He just qualified out of position.

"Had he qualified up there, he would have been up there today. He [Perez] lost out in the early laps, and George managed to get away with running off track and not getting any penalty from that. That was the difference."

The Red Bull driver is now 53 points behind his teammate and by the looks of it, Max Verstappen might end up increasing the lead in the coming races as he gets more and more comfortable with the car.