Red Bull can catch Mercedes, but not yet

If there was one team bigging up their chances throughout the winter ahead of the 2017 season it was Red Bull Racing.

Having Adrian Newey in your ranks ahead of a season which has seen new aerodynamic-friendly regulations implemented, should give you the advantage over your rivals.

Then the development Renault made with their power-unit throughout the final few stages of 2016, had Red Bull Racing principal Christian Horner feeling confident.

Even during Mercedes search for a replacement for Nico Rosberg, people kind of get the impression that even if they could get out of their contracts neither Max Verstappen or Daniel Ricciardo would have considered quitting Red Bull Racing ahead of a season where they could turn out to be the class of the field.

But during the first eight days of winter testing that isn’t looking likely and in fact Red Bull Racing not only have failed to close the gap to Mercedes but they’ve also lost ground to Ferrari.

‘I wish we were sandbagging a bit more, On Day One of this [last] week’s Test we looked more competitive. I would say that we’re two or three tenths off the pace. [Friday] was a lot more. [Friday] we were not quick.’ Ricciardo told Sky Sports.

‘Our true pace is closer but we are not quite at their level at the moment, We can get there but we are not there yet.’