Horner targets area Ferrari appear stronger than Red Bull

Christian Horner has identified Ferrari's strength in managing tyre graining as an area Red Bull must improve.

In Australia, Pirelli brought its softest C5 tyre for the first time in 2024, and although this was not a favoured race tyre, the other compounds also suffered from graining at Albert Park.

Red Bull's race was ruined by a brake calliper problem for pole-sitter Max Verstappen and floor damage for Sergio Perez as Carlos Sainz led a Ferrari one-two in what was a two-stop race.

It was the first race since Las Vegas towards the end of the 2023 season where tyre graining was a major feature of the race, with Horner spotting the trend of Ferrari being strong in both, compared to comparative struggles for Red Bull, on what was a relative messy weekend for the reigning World Champions.

"It is an area where Ferrari is particularly strong," Horner told media including RacingNews365 when asked about tyre graining concerns - something which also featured in Las Vegas.

"So it is probably no coincidence that they were strong in Vegas and strong here, so it an area we'll need to improve on at front-limited circuits.

"Ferrari have a strong team, they've got two strong drivers, a decent car and we had a tough [race], and they capitalised on it.

"It has closed everything up again, but there's only 21 races to go.

"We did struggle on Friday, but I thought the team did a great recovery and Max did a stunning job in qualifying.

"We'd started to work out the issues and certainly on the laps to the grid, Max was reporting that he was really happy with the balance, but we never got to see the answers if we had solved those issues.

"But I think was it was undeniable that Ferrari was very strong this weekend - so congratulations to Carlos on losing an appendix and a dominant win."