Horner convinced aero concept will pay off for Red Bull

Red Bull Racing kicked off its 2017 campaign with a rather low key performance in Australia, with the former world champions clearly outpaced by arch rivals Mercedes and Ferrari.

The team believes a Renault power unit upgrade scheduled for June will help will help in its efforts to bridge the gap with the front runners

But team boss Christian Horner also insists that his outfit has chosen a specific approach to aerodynamics which he feels will pay off handsomely when fully exploited.

"It's still early days, the regulations are still very immature," Horner told the BBC.

"We've chosen a different concept. I believe there's really good development potential in the concept that we have."

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Horner is referring to the rather curious 'nose job' sported by Red Bull's RB13 which includes an opening at the thumb tip destined to optimise airflow.

Both Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo have underlined the RB13's rather delicate balance however, or "narrow set-up window" as they've called it. But Horner remains confident in the chosen approach.

"There's a lot of positives to take out of Australia, at a track where we have not been competitive for the last couple of years. I'm sure that we can build on this over the coming races.

"We have a good basis and a good direction and as the regulations are quite immature, I think things will move quite quickly.

"So I honestly believe we will get ourselves into a competitive situation this year."

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