F1: 'Red Bull can overcome glitches'

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner is confident his title-leading outfit will be able to conquer the glitches in their KERS power-boost system that have dogged them at the opening two grands prix of the season.

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel has won both races so far this season, in Australia and last weekend in Malaysia, despite the team's difficulties with KERS.

Both the German and his team-mate Mark Webber were unable to run the system in Australia due to problems with what Horner claims is an "immature" design, while intermittent issues hit both drivers last time out in Sepang.

With this weekend's race in China coming so soon after Malaysia, there has been little time for Red Bull to get to the nub of the problem, but Horner is confident lessons have been learned that can be put into practice in Shanghai.

"We've gathered a huge amount of data, so we will only learn more this week, and we plan to build on the experience we've had," said Horner.

"With a system that is quite immature compared to some of our rivals, we just didn't want to take too many risks in arguably one of the harshest environments for it (Malaysia), so we became a bit conservative in our usage."

Asked whether the team's battle to make KERS reliable has become the team's main focus, Horner added: "No, no, no. McLaren and Ferrari are our chief concern.

"You can see that performance can ebb and flow. Ferrari looked to be having a very strong race (in Malaysia).

"We just need to focus on optimising our own performance, and we've managed to win the two opening grands prix of the season, which is a tremendous start. And we'll look to build on this form as we head to China."

Although Vettel had to switch off his KERS system during the race in Malaysia, his supremacy out front was never under any real threat from McLaren's Jenson Button, who finished a strong runner-up.

Webber, meanwhile, was unfortunate to lose his KERS system immediately prior to Sunday's race, meaning he was swamped by his rivals off the start, although the gritty Australian nevertheless battled back for an impressive fourth at the flag.

And Horner believes that KERS is not proving to be the key differential between cars than many expected, instead handing that accolade to the new high-wear Pirelli tyres, which have increased the amount of pit stops drivers are required to make.

"In the end the tyres were the biggest performance differentiator, as we saw," Horner added.

One of the overlooked facts of the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend was the staggering 2.7-second tyre change which the Red Bull crew achieved in turning around Vettel for one of his routine pit stops.

Horner maintains it is the pursuit of these fractions of a second - in addition to the glory of winning - which is keeping motivation high in Red Bull's ranks.

"Within this team it's very simple. You can see the thrill and enjoyment the team get out of winning," he said.

"You can see it in the expression of every team members' face, they never take it for granted.

"You can see it when they've completed a good pit stop, a good qualifying, all those factors.

"The work ethic is tremendous at the moment, not just with the guys at the track, but also behind the scenes within the less glamorous departments, the electronics guys, the inspection guys.

"They're all just going that extra yard and it's paying dividends."