With the second day of F1 testing completed in Bahrain, the teams are beginning to show their cards and their improvements of technological innovations under the new regulations that they have been working on over the winter break.

While Ferrari has been strong showing the most consistency with improved lap times since the Barcelona testing sessions, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has vocalised his concerns over rival Mercedes despite the Brackley-based team’s uncharacteristically disappointing results in the testing sessions.

On the first day of testing in Bahrain, Mercedes’s newest driver George Russell managed to end the day in P9 while seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton was P11 with Red Bull driver Sergio Perez splitting the two Mercedes drivers in P10. Max Verstappen managed to outplace both Mercedes drivers with a P5 result on the second day of testing as Hamilton was P5 and Russell P13. 

Speaking to the media during Day 2 of testing in Bahrain, Horner pointed out that although Ferrari seems to be the most put together on track for testing, Mercedes will play a significant part in the championship battle throughout the season.            

“For me, car that looks most settled on the circuit is the Ferrari,” said Horner. 

“They’ve had a very strong testing period so far in Barcelona and in Bahrain... so I’d say they’ve looked extremely competitive out of everyone on track.

“But you have to remember, these cars are still very immature. The rate of development will be fast and intense, and I expect that to change. Mercedes will be a huge factor in this championship, I have no doubt.”

One of the most notable innovations that Mercedes brought to the Bahrain testing sessions for their W13 challenger has been their redesigned sidepods that are drastically different from the rest of the F1 teams including Red Bull. Horner commended Mercedes for their new sidepod design and for their creativity working within the new 2022 regulations.       

“Obviously the jungle drums beat fairly loud on these kind of things in Formula 1 and there’d been rumours of a fairly radical interpretation,” stated Horner.

“It’s very innovative what Mercedes have come up with; it’s quite a different concept to certainly the concept that we’ve pursued and some of the others have. It shows the creativity that exists, even within constrictive regulations in Formula 1, that very different solutions are coming out.

“Now whether it’s the right route or whatever, only time will tell. What we see in Formula 1 is that there tends to be convergence over a period of time on design philosophies. But what’s so good about this sport is you get a clean sheet of paper, you get 10 different interpretations. Mercedes have come up with an extreme one that’s a different interpretation.

The Red Bull boss also addressed the controversial topic of whether or not the new additions to the W13 by Mercedes are legal.  

“But to answer your next question of whether we think it’s legal or not, yes absolutely. It looks like it ticks all the boxes,” Horner concluded.