Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner believes his two drivers will be firmly in the Formula One world title hunt this season if they can crack their qualifying issues.

After dominating on a Saturday for the last two years, Red Bull have suddenly fallen on hard times by their standards when it comes to the one-lap showdown.

Of the 38 grands prix over 2010 and 2011, reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel was on pole 25 times, with team-mate Mark Webber weighing in with a further eight.

However, in three races so far this season neither Vettel nor Webber has yet seen the front row, never mind come close to pole.

Vettel even slumped to 11th on the grid in Shanghai four days ago, the 24-year-old German’s worst qualifying performance for 42 races since the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Yet on Sundays, Red Bull have proven strong and reliable, with Webber currently nine points adrift of championship leader Lewis Hamilton and Vettel 17.

Horner knows if the team can solve their Saturday issues then better results the day after will follow.

“Our strategy in the first three races has been strong,” said Horner.

“But where we’ve been weak on a Saturday we’ve performed quite well on a Sunday. We just need to sort out qualifying now.

“We know we’ve good race pace, so if we can just get qualifying sorted then we can make a significant step forward.”

That, however, will likely only be after this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix and ahead of the European campaign starting in Spain in mid-May.