Horner sees different approach at Ferrari: 'In the end they were slightly faster'

Christian Horner is satisfied with his drivers' results in the sprint race for the Austrian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen took victory in Spielberg, while Sergio Perez drove from P13 to P5. According to the team boss, Red Bull had a different approach to Ferrari.

"It was a very controlled drive by Max, so we’re happy with that. It was a great recovery by Checo. He almost got back into the position he qualified on, so overall it was a pretty decent sprint race." Horner told the Sky Sports camera.

Ferrari and Red Bull Racing were very close in terms of pace in the second half of the sprint race, but Charles Leclerc was nowhere near Verstappen's car. Carlos Sainz and Leclerc battled it out for P2, which allowed Verstappen to make a gap to the rest of the field.

'Red Bull had a different approach'

"I think they didn’t push their tyres as hard at the beginning of the stint. They were marginally quicker at the end, so i think we wanted to break the DRS quickly. Max broke that one second very hard in the second flying lap, so it’s just a different approach" Horner continued.

According to Horner, Verstappen had the tyres under control. Tyre strategy will again play a big role on Sunday. "Yeah, he was managing. Obviously, it’s a long stint on those tyres. What you take out at the beginning, you lose in the end.," the Red Bull team boss said.