Horner: “It's all about the tyres”

Red Bull Racing insists it is not so arrogant as to consider its car far ahead of its rivals despite the gaps inflicted in qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The RB7 has started from pole position in every Grand Prix so far this year, but the single-lap second lead has not been replicated in the race.

In Barcelona, ​​the team inflicted gaps of more than a second on their rivals in qualifying, but in the race Vettel had to battle with Lewis Hamilton.

Asked if the challenge with McLaren was a concern, on a circuit like Barcelona which should have been much easier for Red Bull, team principal Christian Horner said: “It wasn't worrying at all because we won. the Grand Prix.”

“I think at the end of the day, it would be very arrogant of us to think that we have a car advantage that allows us to have 1 second a lap.”

“We managed to have a phenomenal qualifying here, but we have to watch out for McLaren. They were competitive in the race and they weren't competitive two weeks ago in Turkey.”

“But they brought a huge update, almost a B-spec car here. We too have taken a step forward with the updates we have introduced. So I think we're in a good place.”

“Performance will continue to vary depending on the circuit, where some teams will be stronger in the race and some in qualifying.”

Horner is convinced that Red Bull Racing has a big advantage in qualifying compared to the race, most likely due to a question linked to the way in which the car uses the Pirelli tyres.

“It's all about the tires,” he said. “I think we managed to get the most out of the tire in qualifying which resulted in an extremely impressive margin here, but I don't think we can abuse the tire as much in the race.”

“If you do this, then you need to take into account at least five stops, or build the strategy to react to the pace of the cars around you. The McLarens were much more competitive, as we expected, in the race. But it's funny, because two weeks ago Ferrari were our main rival, and in Spain we lapped them. So it varies from circuit to circuit. “