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Red Bull relies on race pace to beat Ferrari in Baku: "Good and competitive car

Team Taurine boss Christian Horner acknowledged the Italian team's superiority in qualifying for the Azerbaijan GP, but revealed he is betting on the RB18 and on the characteristics of the track itself to believe in a race victory

Red Bull relies on race pace to beat Ferrari in Baku: "Good and competitive car

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has admitted that the Austrian team expected to be behind Ferrari in Formula 1 qualifying for the Azerbaijan GP on Saturday. This - even though Charles Leclerc did indeed take pole - does not invalidate the thought that the energy performance in Baku was positive and that there is performance potential for Sunday's race.

"I thought before qualifying that it would be a very close race and that Ferrari had the advantage on one lap pace, but we've shown so far that on Sundays we have a good, competitive car - on a track that allows overtaking," Horner said.

"Hopefully we can make life difficult for them (Ferrari) tomorrow. With a straight as long as this, the effect of DRS is very powerful - but you need to be close enough to use it in the second sector. So it will be all about taking the fight to them. Convert the start," preached the Red Bull boss.

Sergio Pérez larga em segundo em Baku; piloto foi prejudicado por falta de vácuo, segundo Horner (Foto: Red Bull Content Pool)
Sergio Pérez starts second in Baku; he was hampered by a lack of vacuum, according to Horner (Photo: Red Bull Content Pool)

Horner also evaluated the performance of Sergio Pérez and Max Verstappen in qualifying for the Azerbaijan GP. According to the Taurine boss, Pérez was hampered by the lack of vacuum and a problem in his RB18 - even though he fitted a "perfect" lap.

"A great performance by both, carrying the good momentum from Monaco. He (Czech) has always been good here, and still didn't rely on vacuum. We had a little problem with refueling, which delayed our going to the track. Mistake in numbers," he said.

"It's a shame, because 'Czech' didn't have the benefit of the vacuum, but he did a perfect lap. With vacuum, we would have been close - but I still don't think we would have had the pace to overtake Charles (Leclerc) today. They had the advantage in lap speed, so we were more focused on the race than qualifying. We have already seen a good race between us and Ferrari, and we plan to use that tomorrow," Horner added.

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