Horner: The volcano did not compromise Red Bull's development work

Christian Honer said on Thursday that the disruption caused by the Icelandic volcano will not disturb Red Bull's preparations for the Spanish Grand Prix scheduled for May 9. Much of the team's equipment remained stranded in China and many feared this could cause delays in development work on the cars the teams intend to bring to Barcelona.

Red Bull sporting director Horner had said before leaving Shanghai with his driver Mark Webber that an air intake similar to that of McLaren should be used by the team in Spain “provided we can get back to Europe soon.”

McLaren's team manager was also concerned about the delays and explained that if they were to continue for another week then it would be a big problem.

Some FOM planes managed to land in Bilbao on Thursday and Horner confirmed that Red Bull trucks are expected to arrive at the team's factory in Milton-Keynes "today."

“Thankfully thanks to this extra week of break between the Chinese Grand Prix and the Barcelona race the delays have had a limited impact,” said the Briton.

Horner also said that most of the staff were expected to arrive in England on Thursday afternoon.

Andre' Cotta