Saturday pace hurting Red Bull

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes the teams deficiency over one-lap is hurting its prospects in the race for the Formula One title.

Neither Daniel Ricciardo or Max Verstappen have managed to finish inside the top three in Saturday qualifying so far this season, and Horner believes this is having a negative impact on the chances of competing with Mercedes and Ferrari.

“I think the key thing for us has been trying to increase competitiveness on a Saturday afternoon because grid position is so important,” he said.

“It puts so much pressure on the drivers in Q3, because they’re having to find even more performance because we don’t have the ability to go with our rivals’ engine modes

“So the problem is when you are caught up in traffic you are damaging the car. When you are in clean air it is a lot easier to manage.”

However, Horner is hopeful of improved peformances and is happy with the team's progress in 2018, adding:

“I think the key thing for us has been trying “We’ve had good strategies, the racing, the pit stops have been excellent. We’ll keep doing what we’re doing and hopefully the results will get stronger and stronger.”