Christian Horner was delighted with the way the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing mechanics worked to get Daniel Ricciardo out on track for the first phase of Qualifying at the Shanghai International Circuit on Saturday after the dramatic turbo failure in final practice.
Red Bull utilised as many people as they could to ensure the Australian did not start at the back of the grid, with some crew members from Max Verstappen’s side of the garage also joining the operation.
“It was a fantastic effort from the crew on car three, assisted when possible by the car 33 crew to get an engine change turned around in such a short period of time,” said Horner.
“There was a significant amount of work to get Daniel out for Q1 and everyone in the garage did a brilliant job”
Verstappen and Ricciardo will line-up fifth and sixth on the grid for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, but unlike the top four will be starting on the Ultrasoft Pirelli tyre, which team principal Horner feels will make the race more interesting as the different strategies play out.
“Progressing through to Q3 in fifth and sixth is about where we are pace wise on this track in Qualifying trim, but hopefully we can be in a more competitive shape tomorrow,” said Horner.
“We have a different tyre to start the race on so hopefully that will make things interesting.”
