Red Bull trust they can stay in fourth

After making a big step forward with reliability in 2008, the Milton Keynes-based team have scored points in seven of the eight races held so far this year to emerge as best of the rest behind Ferrari, BMW Sauber and McLaren.

And although Toyota and Renault have shown strong flashes of speed, Red Bull Racing are bullish about their chances of staying ahead of their main opposition for the rest of the campaign.

Team principal Christian Horner said: "The first half of the season has gone pretty well for us. We have taken a big step forward in reliability and our performance has also shown progress since 2007.

"So far, coming up to the British Grand Prix, we have had one hundred percent mechanical reliability in all the races, which is remarkable compared to last year. We have already scored as many points in a half season as we did in (all) of 2007 and we have secured our first podium of the year as well as scoring in seven of the eight races to date.

"The only race where we failed to score was in Melbourne where both our drivers were eliminated through accidents. It's a positive start and we are on target to meet our objective of finishing the year in fourth spot in the constructors', but there's still a long way to go.

"With that in mind, there are still developments due on the car to increase performance as we feel we can get closer to McLaren and BMW."

Mark Webber is aware of how tough things are going to get, but is sure Red Bull Racing have the ability to maintain their current form.

"Okay, maybe we're not banging out podiums and race wins but we are doing everything that can be asked of us at the moment," he said.

"As for the rest of the season, it's not going to get any easier for us and we still have to deliver week in and week out. It's a cliche but I'll be taking every race as it comes.

"In terms of the opposition, Renault have definitely not performed to their maximum yet and we can expect strong opposition from them and from a few other drivers and teams that have maybe under performed so far."

Horner also revealed that chief technical officer Adrian Newey was now entirely focused on work for the 2009 car.

"While pushing to maintain our fourth place in the championship, we are also working on our 2009 programme and, as a smaller team, we have to be smart in the way we use our resources," he explained. "All teams face this dilemma to some extent.

"The best form of defence is attack and that's what we'll continue to do for the rest of 2008. Within our technical group we have the capacity to develop the current car while looking at 2009 and Adrian Newey's primary focus is now the 2009 car.

"But he is still overseeing the development of RB4. It is a juggling act but one which we feel we can deal with. We just have to think smarter than the bigger teams we are fighting against, work hard and keep our head down."