This season came as a surprise to everyone when Ref Bull finally fielded a car that can challenge Mercedes for the championship. However, the latter’s team principal, Toto Wolff, has said, time and again, that the Austrian team have the upper handing the title fight this year. But his Red Bull counterpart, Christian Horner, believes that Wolff is only trying to play mind games, and he isn’t falling for it.

The Milton-Keynes squad looked dominating over the opening weekend in Bahrain, courtesy of Max Verstappen. However, the Brackley-based team stole the win with an impressive drive by Hamilton.

Imola was the team’s redemption day, and they did exactly that, as Verstappen brought home the first win of the season for himself and his team.

Red Bull boss believes Mercedes just trying to deflect attention

Speaking to Motorsport.com, Horner said, “Mercedes has been tagging us as the favourite, and Toto is obviously extremely keen to deflect attention, but it’s somewhat short sighted.

“Of course, it’s used to try to put expectation and to try to create pressure. Of course, Toto will inevitably try to identify Red Bull as the favourite in order to create a perception of having to chase and catch up.

“When you look, they are seven time reigning world champions, they had one bad test. Their car was every bit quick as ours in the race in in Bahrain, and their tyre degradations looks very good,” Horner concluded.

Christian Horner only has praise for his Dutch driver

Max Verstappen is undoubtedly one of the most talented drivers on the current F1 grid. He surprised everyone by taking the race lead and holding on to it till the end at Imola, despite starting from third place. Thus, Horner is extremely proud of Max for putting the team on the podium in Italy.

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Speaking after the Emilia GP, he said, “Max got a mega start and then braved it out into the first turn, and thereafter controlled the race brilliantly. It’s always tough to lose a race like we did in Bahrain and it’s so marginal [with Mercedes].

“And so to come here and get that victory, there’s only one point between the two drivers, a huge distance in this championship still to run,” he concluded.

The Austrian outfit currently sit in the constructors’ second place behind the Silver Arrows, as does Verstappen behind Hamilton. The next round takes us to Portugal, where they will hope to get on the top step of the standings.

Read More: THROWBACK: Red Bull F1’s Horner Explains ‘Multi-21’ Drama to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip