Christian Horner says Red Bull must believe it will get back to the front in F1

McLaren delivered it second consecutive front row lock-out in Malaysia this weekend and, with Red Bull struggling to recapture the form that helped it secure back-to-back titles in the past two seasons, it is clear that the outfit has a big fight on its hands for the current campaign.

But rather than believe that a rethink is needed to get back on terms with McLaren, Horner is sure that Red Bull's current approach will be enough.

"We just have to keep working in the manner we always have," said Horner ahead of the second race of the season. "We're working methodically to add performance to the car.

"We are leaving some performance on the table at the moment. Both drivers feel that, but we have some good stuff in the pipeline. First of all let's see what happens in the race here."

Horner concedes that McLaren appears to be F1's pace setter right now, but he also believes that a more detailed analysis of everybody's performance is needed - because form seems to fluctuate quite dramatically.

"What is interesting is that at different stages different teams are looking hugely competitive," he said. "Kimi Raikkonen's lap in Q2 here was a big lap. Pastor Maldonado in P3 on the hard tyre looked tremendously quick. The Toro Rossos on Friday were fast...

"It's moving around a lot at the moment, but I think it's a healthy thing for F1. It stimulates a lot of interest. It's all about developing the car and moving it up through the season."

Horner said that the decision to put Sebastian Vettel on a different tyre strategy for the race, with the world champion qualifying on the hard tyres, was because the team knew it would not be able to overhaul McLaren on single lap pace.

"I think we felt it was unlikely we could outqualify the McLarens in a straight shootout, so we decided to try something different," he said. "I was surprised how close Mark [Webber] got.

"It was decided on his [Vettel's] in lap in Q3. It was something we decided. Strategically... he was keen to do it, so we went for it."