Red Bull keeps its options open with split tyre strategies

Red Bull's Christian Horner was particularly satisfied with his team's performance in qualifying for tomorrow's Belgian GP at Spa while underlining his driver's split race tyre strategies.

Max Verstappen put in a tremendous effort to secure a position on the front alongside poleman Nico Rosberg while Daniel Ricciardo will launch his race from P5.

"A stonking first lap, it was really impressive what he managed," enthused Horner about Verstappen's result.

"To be on the front row here, only a tenth and a half behind the Mercedes, that's pretty impressive."

The performance split between the two drivers could perhaps be put down to the Dutchman's motivation to perform well in front of a quasi home crowd, but Horner also explained that a small error by Ricciardo in Q3 which probably cost him dearly.

"He [Verstappen] is obviously pretty pumped here, but he's driven a very controlled qualifying. Daniel made a small mistake into Turn 1 on his first lap when it looked like the circuit was at its best and that was of course a penalty all the way up the hill.

"But starting fifth and with his tyre strategy for tomorrow, its' going to be a fascinating race."

REPORT: Rosberg edges out Verstappen and Raikkonen for pole at Spa

Indeed, the Red Bull drivers have gone for different tyre strategies with Verstappen starting on the delicate SuperSoft rubber while Ricciardo will begin his first stint on the more durable soft compound.

"It's going to be fascinating on Sunday," Horner told Sky Sports  Ted Kravitz.

"Obviously the supersoft is going to have to pit earlier, but he then should be able to make progress through the field and maybe even have track position compared to the other cars.

"It is going to be fascinating to see how it all works, a few years ago we stopped on lap two here and managed to win the race.

"It is not clear cut and when we discussed it this morning I put it open to both drivers what tyre they would prefer to start the race on and both drivers independently came up with the tyre decision they have today.

"From a team point of view it covers both options - here and now we don't know what the best one is."

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Chris Medland's 2016 Belgian Grand Prix preview

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