Red Bull Racing favourite to race in Imola: "Honda excelled here last year"

The step of Honda

In recent years Mercedes has dominated Formula 1, but in Bahrain, it became clear that Red Bull Racing are now really in the fight. As well as Red Bull, however, it was also AlphaTauri that seemed to have made a huge step. Franz Tost stated that this was 70 percent thanks to Honda, and of course, that says something about the huge progress at the Japanese.

"If Franz says that, then there must be some truth in it. As a team boss, you are more likely to say that the progress is due to the hard work of your own team. Also, Honda was very strong in Imola last year, so I expect the same this year'', says Marc Priestley in His latest video. The configuration at Imola seemed to suit Honda well, and with the amount of performance gained, Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri could well do good business.

Mercedes versus Red Bull Racing

''Mercedes won the race in Bahrain but weren't in great form either. For some teams, it was a bit of an extra winter test, where they were collecting data that they normally would have collected on the fourth or fifth day. Also, Bahrain is very open and that was a disadvantage for wind sensitive cars like Mercedes.''

It will therefore be exciting in Imola according to the former McLaren mechanic. ''Honda excelled here last year. It will be close again this time, and Mercedes will not struggle as much as they did in Bahrain. It will, as always, be about who can handle the tyres best. In Bahrain, Red Bull managed that quickly, whereas we haven't really been used to that from them in recent years'', Priestley concludes.