Horner sees Mercedes using a lot of tyres: 'You need them then'

Good day for Red Bull

It was wet at the Suzuka Circuit and so drivers hardly got into action in the early stages of the hour-and-a-half practice session. Red Bull decided not to send its drivers out on the full wets at all and wait until it became dry enough for intermediates. Once it did, Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen were able to do quite a few laps.

Perez drove a total of 25 laps, making him and Yuki Tsunoda the most frequent to cross start/finish. Verstappen drove 23 laps, but did have a faster time than the Mexican with third place in the final result. However, the difference was only 0.048s.

Horner not shocked by Mercedes

''This was a tricky one. The track is very tough on tyres. We only ran one set of the inters in that second session and I think Mercedes used three. Our pace is reasonable. It's difficult to draw too many conclusions, but the front tyres are going off arouund here quickly. We have collected a lot of data for the guys to look at,'' Horner told Sky Sports.

For Saturday, the forecast looks a lot better. ''Tomorrow looks to be dry, Sunday maybe wet. So you have to choose a middle ground with enough downforce on the car. You have to choose something that is competitive for both conditions (dry and wet). Those discussions will continue tonight. Where do you put the focus on. Your starting position or the race?''

Asked how the proportions are with Mercedes at one and two in FP2, Horner sees a nice development. ''I think it's very interesting that they used those extra tyres. In the first sector, a new set here is going to make a big difference. Today's times are not representative, but we are there and seem competitive,'' Horner concludes optimistically.