Christian Horner feels the advantage will swing towards Ferrari at the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix. The Red Bull Racing team notched up two consecutive race wins at the Imola and Miami Grands Prix and, seem to be edging ahead of their chief title rivals.

The Austrian team has brought upgrades to almost every race so far, and are the clear frontrunners after the first five races. It is only due to their poor reliability that Ferrari is ahead in the Constructors' championship.

The Ferrari cars have been on par with Red Bull over a single lap, but have struggled with overall pace during the race. The Milton Keynes-based team have credited their superior pace not only to the upgrades, but also for their ability to shed weight on their car, which helps with tyre management.

"You saw in Imola how quickly things can move around and I think we've got some interesting races coming up. The car's running well. We've got some developments coming hopefully later in the summer that will help as well. We need to save a little bit of weight," Horner said, as quoted on F1.com

Max Verstappen
Red Bull's Max Verstappen is looking to build on his win in Saudi Arabia ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP

"You can always improve everywhere," he added. "We need to improve the slow [corner] stuff, we need to lose a couple of kilos off the car; tyre deg is then the result of weight so it's all those little incremental gains that you're always chasing."

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has called on his team to respond in the upcoming races with the Maranello-based team expected to bring a big upgrade package to Barcelona. Horner believes the characteristics of the Circuit de Catalunya will suit the red car, and feels it will be "horses for courses" right through the season.

"It's been nip-and-tuck and Barcelona is a whole new challenge, high-speed corners, and we know that Ferrari are strong in that area. It's horses for courses and this circuit [Miami] suited us, we were able to make it work and get the result," he said.

The Spanish Grand Prix gets underway with the first practice session on Friday. It is the first race of the European season before teams move on to the iconic Monaco Grand Prix just a week later.

Ferrari
Top two: Carlos Sainz, left, and Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc congratulate each other after qualifying in Miami Brendan Smialowski/AFP