Red Bull says F1 title battle is still a four-way fight

Sebastian Vettel is the only driver to have won more than one race so far this season, and he currently holds a 10-point advantage in the drivers' standings over Kimi Raikkonen.

Although Red Bull's rivals are convinced that the RB9 is the out-and-out fastest car, the Milton Keynes-based team is less sure about the situation.

In a season when looking after tyres is as important as pure speed, Red Bull chief Christian Horner reckons that things are closer than they look, and that any of the top four teams can emerge on top.

"Ferrari is strong, Lotus has a good car, and the Mercedes certainly over a single lap is very strong," explained Horner, whose team is chasing a fourth consecutive world championship this year.

"The rest are a step behind.

"It's close, it's tight and I'm sure it's going to move around from circuit to circuit as we head back to Europe.

"But having won two of the four races plus a second place, it has been a strong start to the campaign for us."

Despite not getting complacent about championship ambitions, Horner does think that the extent of Vettel's pace advantage in Bahrain was never made evident, because he was more concerned with looking after his tyres.

"Seb did a phenomenal job of managing the tyres," said Horner, reflecting on Vettel's performance.

"He was totally in control from the moment he took the lead, passing Nico Rosberg and then controlled the race beautifully.

"At no point was he ever threatened - and in the end it was a very dominant win."