F1: Horner Encouraged By Red Bull Performance

Formula 1

F1: Horner Encouraged By Red Bull Performance

Red Bull team boss scrutinizes tire performance...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted April 20, 2012 Manana (BHR)

Christian Horner says Red Bull must finish races to remain in title contention. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Red Bull look set for a stronger weekend than in China after Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel set the second and third best times in the afternoon session.

However Webber was still over 0.4s off pacesetter Nico Rosberg.

“I think it’s been a sensible day for us, we’ve worked through a program,” said team boss Christian Horner. “I think this year the tire has dominated performance and I think it’s crucial to try and understand how the tires work, how to get on top of those tires, and I think we’ve learned a lot over those first three races. Each of the races has been at a different nature of circuit, different conditions.

“We’ve seen the form of all the teams moving around a lot and the midfield making a big step as well. And that’s produced some great racing, I think last weekend was a phenomenal race and that adds to the challenge. We’ve worked through our program today, both the drivers seem reasonably happy with their cars, and obviously a lot of information to look over tonight before we go into the final practice tomorrow.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.