Horner remains optimistic but "had hoped to be higher up the order" in qualifying

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner left Saturday's qualifying session in Singapore with mixed feelings, as the Brit was happy with the progress Alexander Albon is making while also being disappointed not to have finished higher than Max Verstappen's P4 on the grid.

Heading into the weekend, Red Bull, and Verstappen in particular were tipped to challenge for both pole position as well as the race win at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

However, in qualifying, the Bulls only qualified in P4 and in P6, with Verstappen being over half a second off the pace from pole-sitter Charles Leclerc and Albon over a full second.

While Horner was happy with his drivers in general, he was left wanting more on the Saturday evening in Singapore.

"Max was able to improve on his second run but unfortunately, with Hamilton also improving Max dropped from provisional P3 to P4 and will start on the second row of the grid," he said when analysing Q3.

"Alex has built on a positive weekend so far to qualify P6 which is his career-best qualifying and is a good effort for his first time here in Singapore.

We had hoped to be higher up the order for tomorrow's race, but it wasn't to be. A lot can happen on a street circuit, as we have seen here before, so it should be an interesting Grand Prix tomorrow evening.”