‘We lap cars we’re battling in qualifying’ – Red Bull

Red Bull boss Christian Horner says the squad is trying to understand why the pace of its RB16 is comparatively stronger in race trim than it is in qualifying.

Red Bull picked up its first victory of the 2020 campaign at Silverstone on Sunday as Max Verstappen overhauled both Mercedes drivers amid their tyre struggles.

Verstappen did so from fourth on the grid, having been beaten by Racing Point’s Nico Hulkenberg, while team-mate Alexander Albon rose from ninth to fifth.

“This car’s put up a little bit of a fight so far so it’s only been today [Sunday] that we’ve really seen the performance we believe that it is capable of,” said Horner.

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“And so for us it’s very important we understand why has it performed so well, the corners we were weak in on Saturday in the race was no issue at all.

“The wind was a little bit less, temperatures pretty similar to last couple of days and last weekend. Tyre pressures are slightly different because of the problems that Pirelli had last weekend.

“It’s important for us to take away this data, analyse and understand it.

“We’re definitely underperforming on Saturdays where we’re fighting over tenths with Racing Points and Renaults this weekend, then we were lapping them in the race.

“There’s a big delta and we’ve seen a bit of a pattern of that across the first four or five races.

“We’ve got a lot to understand but it’s really encouraging to have this performance and rewards all the hard work that is going in.”

Horner was also effusive in his praise of Albon’s recovery.

“Some of the passes he made around the outside of Copse, and throughout sectors one and two… I thought he drove a very very good grand prix again,” said Horner.

“As soon as the car becomes more drivable on a Saturday and we can qualify better, imagine if Alex had started in P4 or P5 with the pace that he had in the race.

“I’m sure that will come for him, I’ve got no doubts about it.”