Christian Horner sees the usual suspects battling for supremacy this season in F1, but the Red Bull team boss believes Aston Martin won't be "too far away" based on its performance in pre-season testing.
Aston enjoyed a productive three-day workout in Bahrain last week, with Fernando Alonso topping the lap count. However, the Spaniard had the car all to himself - save for two half-days when reserve driver Felipe Drugovich took over - due to Lance Stroll's temporary unavailability.
Nevertheless, the Silverstone-based outfit will head into next weekend's opening round at Sakhir as most pundits' top F1 mid-field contender.
"I think they’ve made a big step," Horner told F1TV. "It looks like their concept of car has moved them forward and it looks like they’re not too far away.
"Fernando [Alonso] in particular looks very competitive."
Designed under the leadership of former Red Bull aero chief Dan Fallows, Aston's 2023 car has been labeled as innovative thanks to a unique sidepod concept that features on its top part a cliff-like drop.
But novel sidepods alone won't win races and the car's main strength appears to be its overall package.
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While the performance of Aston's AMR23 caught Horner's eye, the Briton still sees the usual triumvirate running ahead of the field, although he steered clear of predicting an order.
"It’s very difficult to say [what the pecking order is]," Horner said.
"Ferrari look like they’re quick, Mercedes form is difficult to read at the moment, are they holding something back? We’ll see this time next week."
Red Bull might be hard pressed to emulate this year the dominance it enjoyed last season, when it took 17 wins on its way to the title.
But Max Verstappen enters his ninth season in F1 as a championship favourite.
"I think he’s been in a great place for the last few years now," commented Horner. "He’s at a stage in his career now, his confidence is very high.
"He’s got that experience, he just gets in and turns it on. You saw that from the very first lap from the first day of testing.
"He’s worked through the programme [in pre-season testing], he’s felt he’s got to know that car as he wanted to. So he’s in good shape, physically he’s in great shape and excited to start the season."
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