Horner: We thought Mercedes had a little more

Round 8 of the championship has all the ingredients top produce a humdinger as both contenders start on the front row, despite the fact that Max Verstappen's pole-winning lap was nearly a quarter of a second faster than Lewis Hamilton's best effort.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that the #33 car's two runs in Q3 were better than anything the Mercs could muster when it mattered on Saturday.

A fact that Horner was quick to point out to Sky F1: "We thought they had a little more in hand, but the temperatures have gone up a bit and that has also had an impact on the cars.

"It's our first ever pole position here. Fantastic qualifying from the team. For Max to get two laps that were good enough for pole... when it's so so close, it's a great performance. It's such fine margins between these two teams. We've just managed to get within a window, which Max is happy with.

"I was a little concerned because Lewis had one more set of tyres available in Q3. We looked at that too but it can make you rushed for the out laps. You can't do your warm-up laps the way you want to.

"Max was in a good rhythm," added Horner who also pointed out: "The whole team is doing an amazing job. We are getting distractions here and there, but that's Formula 1.

"But how the team reacts and performs is the most important thing. We have to keep the momentum going. Everyone is working so very hard which enables results like this," explained the Red Bull team principal.