Red Bull boss Christian Horner pointed to the fact that the Energy team has a strategic advantage by having two cars in the top-3
It is true that Carlos Sainz helped a lot by giving a vacuum to teammate Charles Leclerc to take the pole-position lap for the French GP on Saturday (23) in Paul Ricard. Even so, however, Red Bull believes that Ferrari had the advantage anyway. That doesn't imply much for Sunday, when the energy team believes it will compete for the victory.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner admitted that Max Verstappen could be closer to Leclerc than the 0s304 gap that ended up being built up with the vacuum, but he doesn't believe he could be pole. However, on Sunday, Sainz is punished and will start 19th. Thus, Leclerc will have no company from his teammate, while Verstappen and Sergio Pérez are in positions two and three.
"Maybe we would have been 0s1 or something closer [without Sainz's vacuum], but Ferrari's lap pace was better than ours today," he admitted.
We have different concepts to attack this track: Ferrari is using more downforce, while we are more tailored for the race. Tomorrow is what counts: we have two against one, which is an interesting dynamic," he pointed out.
"The two drivers being second and third gives us the opportunity to do something, it's always like that. Is Ferrari wearing out more tires or can they maintain that? Can we handle it better by looking for speed in a different strategy? It will be hot and windy tomorrow," he finished.
GRANDE PRÊMIO follows LIVE and IN REAL TIME all the activities of the French GP weekend. On Sunday, the start is scheduled for 10:00 am (GMT-3).