Q & A with Christian Horner

Christian Horner: It is a fantastic result for the team, for Red Bull, and for Mr. Mateschitz for the commitment he has put into Formula 1. I am very, very proud of everything that the team has achieved. It is a great team result, a 1-2, great strategy, and neither driver put a foot wrong the whole race. They were totally dominant.

Q. Were you optimistic from day one, pre-season, that this car was a winner?

CH: Yes, for from the first time the car ran in Jerez you could see that it was immediately competitive, and the decision to go late with the design was absolutely verified with the performance. We still have a lot more to come, we have a lot in the pipeline and this is the best possible way to get properly on the scoreboard with 18 points.

Q. This car has got a slightly longer wheelbase hasn't it?

CH: Yes. Basically we have had a few more upgrades on the car here. But the effort that's going in at Milton Keynes at the moment from Adrian [Newey] and his team, the chief designer Rob Marshall, Peter Prodromou, Geoff Willis, the whole of the design office, is exemplary. This result is the culmination of a lot of hard work and we now have to build from here. We are still obviously at a very early stage in the championship, we have now got clarity on the regulations, so we now have got to build on this result and do our best to repeat it as often as possible.

Q. Now you have got the win and you are in the championship hunt, will this force you to fast track the diffuser or will you take a more conservative approach?

CH: We are pushing flat out. I spoke to Adrian on Saturday and he'd only got back from the factory at 2AM in the morning, after Friday night. So that is the kind of effort that is going into this. We will bring it to the car in a timely fashion as quickly as possible. The dogs are sleeping in McLaren and Ferrari at the moment but they are going to wake up very soon. We just need to keep pushing, we've got a great platform, two very good drivers, and we are getting a great service from Renault. We just need to keep pushing.

Q. If you can go this quick without a diffuser, when it comes on, surely this is the benchmark car isn't it?

CH: I think the car has a great deal of potential. We have seen that from very early on. We know that there is more performance to come. The underside of the car is obviously the most powerful aerodynamic tool on the car so hopefully we can only extract more performance. But you know nothing is easy, it has to be integrated within our package, our solution, which is quite different to everybody else's. But today demonstrates what the team's potential is.

Q. Were you worried at any stage of the race?

CH: From lap one! Reliability is always hanging over you. We had an aggressive strategy both in the dry and the wet. We believe we could have taken on the Brawns and really raced them hard to the last pit stop with the strategy that we had, and it paid off in the wet as well. Both drivers did an unbelievable job, didn't put a wheel wrong all through the race. Great pit stops; great teamwork; well supported from the UK and in the end a fantastic day for Red Bull.

Q. Mark qualified with a slightly heavier car, what was the thinking about bringing him in before Sebastian?

CH: Basically with what they had managed to save fuel-wise, they were due to stop on the same lap, so obviously with that decision you give the additional lap to the guy that is leading the race. Mark didn't manage to save quite as much fuel as Sebastian behind the safety car.

Q. What was going through your head when you saw Buemi nearly crashing into Sebastian?

CH: It sort of expletive, expletive, expletive. 'Is the car okay?' 'Yes'. That was the sequence. But we could see from all the data that the car was fine and it is understandable in those conditions. It was a mistake that our Sebastian made not so long ago.

Q. Do you feel that this is now a championship challenge?

CH: It is too early to say whether it is a championship challenge, but we are firmly on the scoreboard. Next week is a completely different challenge and the long straights will probably favour the KERS cars more. We know we've got a good package, we know we have got good drivers in the car; we know we have got more to come, but the fight back from the big teams is not to be underestimated. They will push extremely hard and we just have to do the same with the resources we have got.

Q. Do you think the rain might actually have helped you a bit, as the diffuser cars didn't seem to benefit so much from the conditions?

CH: Theoretically the benefits should be equal in both conditions. The Toyota was very, very fast in the first test of the year in wet conditions. The drivers were confident in the car, they had a very good balance and they were able to extract the most out of it. The strategy worked very well for us, Sebastian had clear vision and we had a fantastic race.

Q. Do you think Sebastian is the best driver you have ever had considering his youth?

CH: Considering where he is in his career for such a young age he is doing an unbelievable job. And he will only continue to develop and get better. But let's not forget Mark, who drove fantastically to achieve his best result so far.

Q. This championship looks like a great battle of the brains of Adrian Newey and Ross Brawn. What do you think of your guy?

CH: Well he is obviously not here, but he has obviously contributed hugely to this result. He is pushing our entire group very hard. He is a completely different person to Ross in that he is actively drawing the car, he is creating the car. He has come up with a great solution. He is at his best when there are regulation changes and I'm sure there is more to come.

Q. He seems enthused again as well doesn't he?

CH: He is enjoying working at Red Bull. He has got a good young team around him and they enjoy working with him. We have got a very good balance in the team - it is not all just about Adrian. He sets the technical direction but is supported fantastically well by the whole group in Milton Keynes. But as I say the team is really starting to come together, and this car is for sure the best car Red Bull has produced in its short history.

Q. It also takes the pressure off the team?

CH: No not at all, it does the reverse because the pressure is now on to repeat it. Your expectations change, so a result like this really puts us on the map and people take us seriously now.

Q. Will Adrian stay at the factory now until the diffuser is finished?

CH: No, he will be in Bahrain next weekend.