Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has disagreed with a prediction made by Mercedes’ George Russell, with the 25-year-old having stated that the Austrians “should win every race” in 2023.
The Milton Keynes-based team have enjoyed a mesmerising start, with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez being the only drivers to have won a race this season.
Verstappen has won three races whilst Perez has won twice, with Red Bull having claimed four 1-2 finishes from the first five races of the season.
As a result, the leading side already boast a 122-point advantage over Aston Martin in the Constructors’ Championship, with Mercedes being a further six points adrift.
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The Austrians do appear to be unbeatable as things stand, making Russell believe that the title is “sewn up” already, despite there still being 17 races to go.
“Red Bull has got this championship sewn up, I don’t think anyone is going to be fighting with them this year. I expect they should win every single race this season. That is my bet,” Russell said.
Horner doesn’t agree with Russell’s prediction and isn’t sure that his side can claim every win this year, with it being an “incredibly tall order”.
Despite this, Red Bull did claim 17 wins from 22 races last season, with their car having been less superior in 2022 than it currently is this year.
Whilst Red Bull have enjoyed their best start ever to an F1 season, Horner doesn’t think 23 wins this year is realistic, with him actually labelling the feat as “unimaginable”.
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“I think that’s a massively tall order,” Horner told the Financial Times.
“I mean, you’ve got 23 events, street circuits, there’s going to be weather that turns up, there’s going to be reliability, strategy, an element of luck. So I think to win 23 races is unimaginable.
“I’m sitting here after five races and we’ve won the first five and that is by far the best start we’ve ever had to a Grand Prix season. We just want to keep that rolling as long as we can, take one race of time and not think about trying to win 23 races”