Christian Horner cautious of Mercedes threat: "They are going to be right there"

Red Bull Racing managed to beat Mercedes to pole position on the opening Grand Prix of the season for the first time in the hybrid era. Max Verstappen will start from pole but he has both Mercedes breathing down his neck at turn one.

Christian Horner signed Sergio Perez to give the team extra strategy options but the Mexican driver failed to escape from Q2 as he got caught out running with the medium tyres.

Red Bull Racing boss Horner is pleased with the result but is fully aware of the threat which Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will pose in the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.

"Mercedes...look at what they turned up. Everyone was writing them off in the last couple of weeks and they are right there, and they are going to be right there in the race again tomorrow. They are going to be a massive challenge for us to beat them but we are starting in the best possible place," Horner told Sky Sports after qualifying.

In Q1, Verstappen ran over the kerbs at high speed and a few bits came off the car. Horner explains. "He smacked the bottom of the car hard. We lost a few bits of carbon. He is carrying a very small bit of damage through the session. You think 'oh no' but he has handled that incredibly well. He felt it, he's obviously sitting on it but he handled it very well," Horner added.