Horner convinced 2019 championship is Mercedes' to lose

Five races into the season, Red Bull's Christian Horner sees little reason to doubt that Mercedes will not conquer its sixth consecutive title this year.

The German team's five-race clean sweep has put well ahead in the points standings while its dominant W10 Silver Arrow is clearly the class of the field, leading pundits to wonder when its flawless series of victories will end.

"I think it’s very much a Mercedes championship, you can see after five races they are three points off a maximum score," said a resigned Horner.

"It’s still a long year and we take things race-by-race. They had a really dominant performance. They're always strong in Barcelona but certainly their fifth one-two finish is exceedingly dominant."

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Mercedes' current hegemony brings back memories of 1988, when McLaren won 15 out of its campaign's 16 races, stumbling only at Monza when Ayrton Senna, leading the race, tripped on a back-marker.

Horner doubts however that Red Bull's rival can achieve a 100 percent win record this year.

"I doubt it," he added. "Twenty-one races to achieve 21 victories, you can never say never but it would be a hell of an achievement.

"Anybody can be beaten, Formula 1 is all about teamwork, it’s the biggest teams in the world.

"Mercedes at the moment are on the crest of a wave but that never lasts forever and our job is to ensure that we have all the tools and capability to take that challenge to them in the coming years."

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