Impossible for Verstappen to pull off another Suzuka-like miracle says Horner

"McLaren look very, very quick. The Mercedes, Ferrari all look pretty, pretty close, but Mercedes [meaning McLaren perhaps] definitely look like they have a few tents on the rest of the field," said Horner, after he saw Oscar Piastri pull a half a second gap on George Russell in P3.

"We've got to understand how can we improve what we have, which is mainly, I think, temperature related," added Horner.

Could Max Verstappen, pull another Suzuka-like performance in Bahrain? Not likely according to Horner. "It is very difficult for him to repeat that masterclass because of the track, the tyre degradation. It is impossible to repeat what he did last last week in terms of a single lap and holding the cars behind for an entire Grand Prix.

"This is a track you can overtake at, relatively easy. It's one of the easier on the tour that you can overtake at. So, a bit of work to do with the engineers tonight, but, they'll get into it now," concluded Horner.

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