Horner defends Red Bull reliability

Although Mark Webber delivered what Horner described as an 'immaculate' performance to win at Barcelona, Sebastian Vettel had a frustrating afternoon - losing time with a slow pitstop, struggling with a front wing adjuster sensor failure and then being slowed by brake issues in the closing stages of the race.

Although the team has encountered costly reliability dramas already this season - with a spark plug failure and wheel problems robbing it of wins in Bahrain and Australia - Horner insists his team is no worse than other outfits.

"I think when you are pushing the boundaries, things can happen," said Horner. "But we have to understand what the issue was here - as McLaren has to do with their failure with Lewis [Hamilton].

"Ultimately we have got two cars on the podium and were just three points off a maximum score. So I think the team managed the issue with the brakes very well."

Although Red Bull was unable to repeat the one-second per lap performance advantage it had in qualifying during Sunday's race, Horner said there was little doubt that Webber was controlling the pace from the front.

"It was an absolutely immaculate race by Mark," he said. "Problem free from start to finish. He drove a very controlling race.

"Obviously those tyres have to go a long way and when you are looking at doing 45-50 laps on one set of tyres, it was all about tyre management. Both the guys were doing a very good job of looking after the tyres."