Horner says tyre choice was a gamble

Horner added, however, that the decision was a gamble that could have backfired.

Webber secured the top spot by 1.3 seconds from Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, as Red Bull scored its third pole in three races.

"I think cool heads from both the engineering crew and the drivers," said Horner of how the team managed to get Webber first and Sebastian Vettel third on the grid.

"We took a bit of a gamble - that I was happy to take in the final session, where as Mark wanted to go with the inters, which was brave."

"Our spotters were telling us there was more rain due, but it was one of those things that was worth rolling the dice. Both drivers did a great job to finish first and third. The ability to get it wrong today was very high."

Horner also backed the decision to stop qualifying when it was obvious there was too much water on track.

"Absolutely. Both our drivers were immediately on the radio saying they were passengers, out of control, doing a lot of damage. I think the race director and the stewards made exactly the right call in those conditions. The difficulty will be tomorrow in the race if we have similar."

He added: "Every day I've been here it's rained between 4pm and 7pm, it's just a question of when. The chances are it's going to rain tomorrow, it's just when, whether it's before the start of the race, during the race or ideally, just after it. But we're not likely to be that lucky."