Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says his team's focus on optimizing its race pace means it can defeat Ferrari in Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix despite Charles Leclerc's blistering pole in qualifying.
The Monegasque edged Sergio Perez by 0.282s in the late Saturday afternoon session, with Max Verstappen 0.347s adrift from the Ferrari charger.
It was Leclerc's fourth consecutive pole position, which undeniably demonstrates Ferrari's superior one-lap pace relative to Red Bull. But Horner is confident his team can once again prevail on Sunday against its arch rival, as has been the case in the last four races.
"We're totally focused on Sunday, but I think there is always a trade-off that you're going to make between outright one-lap pace," Horner said.
"I thought before qualie that it's going to be very tight, I felt that over a single lap that Ferrari had the edge, but I think we've shown so far this year on Sundays that we have a competitive race car.
"Checo's on that Monaco wave of confidence and even without a tow he did a good lap there, and Max is right up there as well.
"At a track you can overtake at, hopefully we can give them a hard time."
©RedBull
However, race pace alone is unlikely to deliver a fifth consecutive win to Red Bull in Baku. With risks of incidents and safety cars statistically high in Azerbaijan, the team's ability to adapt its strategies accordingly will be paramount.
"I think Safety Cars are going to be a big factor here," Horner told ViaPlay.
"We've seen in the support races and we've seen plenty of action in qualifying there, so I think that's going to play a role.
"We just want to make sure we get the strategy right. I think rear tyres are going to be crucial here as well.
"Nobody has really done any long runs, so it's a bit of a journey into the unknown, but hopefully we've focused on having a good race car and hopefully we'll deliver that tomorrow."
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